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PRINCETON ° NEW JERSEY 
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PRESENTED BY 


Dr. Donald 
BX 5995 .E62 


Tomes, Margaret A. 
Julia Chester Emery 





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Digitized by the Internet Archive 
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Julia Chester Emery 











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From a charcoal drawing made by her sister, Helen W. Emery 


Julia Chester Emery 


Being the Story of 
Her Life and Work 


By 


Margaret A. Tomes 


eo Wi0 ta Nes AALS tlh vairay, 
to the 
National Council 
Protestant Episcopal Church 
281 Fourth Avenue, New York 


1924 


Printed by 


EARNSHAW PRESS CORPORATION 
BOSTON, MASS. 


1924 


To the Two Sisters 
MARGARET THERESA and HELEN WINTHROP EMERY 


this volume 1s affectionately dedicated 
by the author 





Foreword 


ULIA CHESTER EMERY, of whom it has recently 

been said, and most truthfully, “was more widely 
known and more universally beloved than any one in the 
American Church,” was nevertheless the humblest, gen- 
tlest, and most self-effacing of women. 

When I was asked to write the story of Miss Emery’s 
life, and mentioned the fact to a mutual friend, she at 
once remarked, “Why, no one could possibly fill a 
book with what Julia did. There is nothing to write 
about.” 

I recognized at once this was not from any lack of 
appreciation on the part of our friend, and also for the 
first time saw how true it was. 

There is no one great achievement which stands today 
as a monument to her memory. The Woman’s Auxiliary 
itself, of which one can never think as disassociated from 
her, was organized by another, her sister; the work was 
carried on and developed “ chiefly,” as she writes herself, 
in her short history of the Woman’s Auxiliary, a leaflet 
Called A> Half-Century of Progress’ (W. A. 122), 
“ through the voluntary service so unstintedly given and 
which no earthly record can ever show, which diocesan 
and parochial officers have rendered.”’ 

Yes, itis true. She didn’t do anything one could write 
about. Yet again, the contrary is also true, for the 
Woman’s Auxiliary itself is a triumphant monument, not 
so much to what she did, as to what she was. It is to 
this, her remarkable personality, and unswerving faith 
and devotion to duty, that we owe the far-reaching and 


inspiring influence that has made her name a sacred 
byword throughout the Church. 

In this unworthy sketch of her life’s history I have 
endeavoured to portray her character, not so much by 
describing her as she appeared to one privileged to be 
her intimate friend for fifty years, as by the relating of 
incidents and anecdotes as I knew them, leaving it to 
others to draw such inspiration as they may need to go . 
“right onward,’ and hoping to awaken in them a desire 
to follow where she led. 

Failing in this, I have failed utterly in the task IJ set 


myself to do. 
M. A. T. 


Fuly, 1923 


CHAPTER 


I 
I] 


Table of Contents 
New ENGLAND ANCESTRY AND EDUCATION 
EARLY YEARS OF THE WOMAN'S AUXILIARY 
Visits TO ENGLAND 
AROUND THE WORLD 
RESULTS OF Forty YEARS’ LABOUR 
LookinG Back—1l. REMINISCENCES 
LooKING Back—2. BEGINNINGS 
HoME AND ParisH LIFE 
LABOUR OF LOVE 
ANNIVERSARIES 
THE J UBILEE CELEBRATED 
CLOSE OF A COMPLETED LIFE 


WorRDS OF APPRECIATION 


103 
111 
118 


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CapTAIN CHARLES EMERY 


CHAPTER | 


New England Ancestry and Education 


N the year 1831, while yet a mere lad, Charles Emery 

left Springfield, Massachusetts, where he was born, 
in 1816, and where he attended the Old High School on 
Spring Street from its opening, in 1828, to follow the 
calling of his father and grandfather and begin his sea- 
faring career. On his fifteenth birthday he started on 
his first voyage, sailing on the ship Eclipse, from Salem, 
for Manila and Canton, being gone for a period of thirteen 
months. Five years later he was offered the command 
of the brig Swan, destined for the west coast of South 
America. This he accepted, and made the voyage around 
Cape Horn as captain when but three months over 
twenty years of age. He spent two years on that coast, 
visiting all of its principal ports. 

These voyages, and many others, took him to various 
distant countries, such as Calcutta, the West Indies, and 
also to Peru, to carry naval stores for the United States 
fleet at the Rio de Janeiro station, where he sold his 
vessel to the Russian Government of Kamtchatka, and 
came back via Callao, Peru, and the Isthmus of Panama. 

After remaining at home for about two years, he 
bought another brig and loaded it with material for a 
shipyard in Hong Kong, then lately acquired by the 
English. This trip required a passage of one hundred 
and sixty-four days. His policy generally was to carry 
a sailing vessel, with its cargo, to some point in the 

13 


14 JULIA CHESTER EMERY 


Far East or South, sell both ship and cargo, and return 
as a passenger on another vessel. 

In the year 1840 Captain Emery married Susan 
Hilton Kelly, daughter of the Hon. John Kelly, of Exeter, 
New Hampshire. 

Mr. Kelly was graduated from Dartmouth College in 
1804. He was Registrar of Probate, Representative to 
the State Legislature, Member of the Governor’s Council, 
Trustee of Dartmouth College, and Treasurer of Phillips 
Academy, Exeter. He was a man of high character and 
manifold accomplishments; was a peacemaker and a 
most genial associate, attracting to himself a host of 
friends and admirers. He was, withal, a man of keen 
wit, quick repartee, and a prince of story-tellers. 

Mrs. Emery was born in 1821, in Northwood, New 
Hampshire, and died in her eightieth year in New York 
City, a charming, gentle, lovable woman of good old 
New England stock, whom everyone learned to love; 
whose intense interest in and love for missions was 
surely imparted to her children. 

Three years after his marriage Captain Emery aban- 
doned the sea, moved his family from Springfield to 
Dorchester, Massachusetts, and became interested in 
several coal and copper mining companies, and later was 
Secretary and Treasurer of the Pewabic and Franklin 
Mining Companies, having an office in Boston. 

In the winter of 1878, in the interests of the cedar 
and mahogany trade, he explored the river Amazon in 
order to obtain supplies of the valuable woods of the 
tropics. At one time he took charge of an expedition, 
and carried the United States flag where it had never 
been before, several hundred miles up the Amazon. He 
later made another voyage to Para, Brazil, and thence 
went to Manaos, one thousand miles further up the 






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NEW ENGLAND ANCESTRY AND EDUCATION 15 


Amazon, to establish a branch for a rubber house in 
Boston in the heart of the rubber country. Returning 
home in June, 1882, he lived quietly with his family in 
Dorchester until his death, on January 3, 1890, in his 
seventy-fourth year.* 

In the records of the Boston Marine Society, of which 
for two or three years Captain Emery was president, we 
find the following tribute: “‘ He was a typical sea-captain 
of the old merchant service, that fast vanishing class of 
fine old men who delighted in recalling memories of the 
old days when they sailed the high seas, before steam 
had supplanted the slow sailing ships.”’ 

These were the parents of Julia Chester Emery, who 
was their fourth daughter and fifth child, subsequently 
becoming one of a family of eleven children. 

It is worthy of note that all of her emigrant ancestors, 
so far as is known, came to this country from some part 
of England, the earliest recorded date being 1635; and 
also, that she inherited a unique genealogy, her father 
being descended from Anthony Emery, second son of 
John and Agnes Emery, the English ancestors, and her 
mother being descended from the eldest son, John Emery. 

The Emerys also inherited an unmixed New England 
ancestry, among whom were five Colonial Governors 
(see page 18). No member of the eight generations on 
one side and seven on the other is known to have resided 
elsewhere than in New England until the year 1865, when 
her eldest brother, John Abbot Emery, settled in Cali- 
fornia. 

Julia was born in Dorchester on September 24, 1852, 
and was baptized by the Rev. E. L. Drown on the 26th 
of the following June in St. Mary’s Parish Church, 


* From “‘ History of the Old High School,” on Spring Street, Springfield, Massa- 
chusetts, by C. W. Chapin. 


16> JULIA CHESTER EMERY 


Dorchester. It is interesting to know that Captain 
Emery was born and brought up in the Unitarian Church 
and that Mrs. Emery was a Congregationalist, but after 
their marriage, and when their eldest daughter, Mary, 
had “‘ come to years of discretion,” they, with her, were 
confirmed and became communicants of the Church. 
Julia herself was confirmed by Bishop Eastburn at the 
age of thirteen. | 

Little is known of Julia’s childhood or school-days, 
except that she was graduated from the Dorchester High 
School and studied for one winter at the Normal School 
in Boston. She also attended, as a boarding pupil, 
St. Catherine’s Hall, in Augusta, Maine, but being too 
far advanced for its course of study was withdrawn at 
the end of six months. 

Several characteristic anecdotes are recalled of her 
during this period. Though usually a very quiet and 
retiring girl, she is said once to have led her class in an 
act of rebellion. When the Headmaster, who was a 
devoted student of Milton, had kept the English class 
on the study of “‘ Paradise Lost”’ beyond the time 
allotted for it, he met the students one morning each 
armed with his or her copy of Shakespeare, having left 
the Milton at home. The Master sadly and reluctantly 
accepted the rebuke, and the study of Shakespeare began. 

It was Julia’s habit, according to the general custom, 
to prepare her lessons at home for the following day, but 
she devoted only so long a period as she thought right 
and fair. After spending a certain number of hours on 
her work, she would close her books whether or no her 
task were completed, and would then turn her attention 
to other duties. It must have been this same trait 
showing itself in later years when at work at the Mission 
Rooms, for on closing her office for the day, the moment 


NEW ENGLAND ANCESTRY AND EDUCATION 17 


she turned the key in the lock she would at once dismiss 
any thought of work and talk of other things until the 
following morning when she entered her office again at 
nine o'clock. This was a daily habit, showing that when 
she had accomplished her task for the day, she recognized 
the time had come for a needed recreation, and to it was 
probably due the wonderful physical endurance which 
enabled her to continue her work uninterruptedly for 
so many years. 

She and her sisters constantly amused themselves with 
the writing of nonsense rhymes, and large books of 
manuscript verse now exist full of these and more serious 
writings. Julia’s translation of the “Iliad” while at 
school was always given in English verse, and was much 
commended. She was clever also at writing acrostics and 
riddles, though her verses spoke more often of the religious 


life. 
GENEALOGY 


PATERNAL 


Father — Charles Emery, born in Springfield, Massachusetts, 
1816; died in Dorchester, 1890. 


Grandfather — Robert Emery, born in Newburyport, Massa- 
chusetts; died in Springfield. Entered Harvard University, and 
through loss of property did not graduate, but went to sea and 
became master of a vessel at age of twenty. Mary Lyman, his wife, 
was the daughter of the Hon. Samuel Lyman, a lawyer, and graduate 
of Yale University. State Senator, 1790-1793; member of United 
States Congress during Washington’s administration, 1795-1800. 


Great-Grandfather — John Emery, born 1746; died at sea, 1787. 
The first sea captain in the family. 


Great-Great-Grandfather — Noah Emery, a staunch patriot, who 
had an important hand in staying the destinies of New Hampshire. 
Admitted to the Bar, 1725, the first lawyer who ever resided in the 
State of Maine. , 


18. JULIA CHESTER EMERY 


MATERNAL 
Mother — Susan Hilton Kelly, born 1821; died 1901. 


Grandfather — Hon. John Kelly, born 1786; died 1860. Gradu- 
ated from Dartmouth College in 1804. 


Great-Grandfather — William Kelly, graduate of Harvard Uni- 
versity, ordained minister in Warner, New Hampshire, 1772. The 
house built by him was the first in the town with two stories. When 
he first settled there were but fifteen houses in the town, and about as 
many glass windows. His wife, Lavinia Bayley, was the daughter of 
Abner Bayley, graduate of Harvard, ordained minister of the Church 
in Salem, New Hampshire. 


Great-Great-Grandfather—Hon. John Kelly, who was a learned 
antiquary, and lawyer of high character. He was a peacemaker, dis- 
couraging all unnecessary litigation. He demonstrated it was possible 
to be a lawyer and at the same time a Christian gentleman, controlled 
by his convictions of duty and teachings of the Bible. 


THE FIvE GovERNORS FROM WuHom SHE Was DESCENDED 


George Wyllys 
Samuel Symonds 
John Winthrop 
Thomas Dudley 
Simon Bradstreet 


CHAPTER II 


Early Years of the Woman’s Auxiliary 


F Captain Emery’s eleven children, eight were 

daughters, two dying in early youth, and one of the 
three sons was accidentally drowned while quite a young 
man. The other two sons* entered the ministry, and 
three of the daughters gave their lives to the missionary 
work of the Church. The elder son, John Abbot Emery, 
became Archdeacon of California, but was retired after 
a service of twenty years. The younger, William Stanley 
Emery, is, at this time of writing, rector of St. Paul’s 
Church, Concord, New Hampshire. 

The eldest of the eight daughters, Mary Abbot Emery, 
left home at an early age to teach, going to Rockland, a 
small town in the State of Maine. When the General 
Convention sitting in Baltimore, October 16, 1871, 
adopted the resolutionst authorizing the women of the 


* The Venerable John Abbot Emery, D.D., Archdeacon of California, died in 
London, England, Thursday morning, November 16, 1922. Was buried in Highgate 
Cemetery. 

Resolutions 

} Resolved, That this Board, recognizing the tested value of organizations of 
Christian women in prosecuting the work of Christ and His Church, hereby recom- 
mends that measures be immediately taken for the engrafting such Association as 
may hereafter be organized under the constitutional provisions of this Board, upon 
the already existing missionary organizations of this Church, whether by the formation 
of “ Sisterhoods Auxiliary,” or otherwise, in such manner as may be deemed most 
practicable and expedient. 

Resolved, That the suggestions contained in this Report (of Committee on 
Organized Work of Women in the Church) as to the organization of a Woman’s Society 
Auxiliary to the Board of Missions be referred to the Reverend Secretaries of the 
various departments of this Board, with power to mature such organization as may 
seem to them practicable and expedient, and submit it to the consideration of the 
Church at large, through The Spirit of Missions. 

Both resolutions were unanimously adopted. 


19 


20 JULIA CHESTER EMERY 


Church to organize as an Auxiliary to the Board of 
Missions, she accepted a call to become its first Secretary. 

She took up the work in New York on the 2nd of 
January, 1872, establishing her headquarters at 21 Bible 
House, a room rented by the Missionary Society for its 
Woman’s Auxiliary, where its committees had their own 
rooms. This was the first official recognition of women’s 
work by the general Church. : 

Miss Emery’s first effort was to get into touch with 
all women’s societies already existing, and to bring them 
under one organization along diocesan and _ parochial 
lines. 

The Board of Missions had previously approached the 
Ladies’ Domestic Missionary Relief Association with a 
view to making it a nucleus for the new society. This 
Association was organized November 3, 1868, at Grace 
Church in New York, by the Rev. Dr. Alvi T. Twing, 
Secretary of the Domestic Committee, having for its 
object the supplying of clothing and other necessary 
articles to be sent to “ our more than one hundred and 
fifty missionaries and their families in our Domestic 
field.” 

It seemed a fitting suggestion, as two of the Associa- 
tion’s othcers, Dr. Twing, its Treasurer, and Miss Bul- 
finch, Associate Editor of The Young Christian Soldier, its 
Corresponding Secretary, were already associated with 
the Board of Missions. The remaining officers, though 
all of the diocese of New York, had yet working with 
them one parish in the diocese of Albany, one in Central 
New York, four in Connecticut, one in Illinois, one in 
Long Island, two in Massachusetts, two in New Jersey, 
one each in Pennsylvania and Rhode Island, and two in 
Vermont. However, the Association, when thus ap- 
proached, not caring to enlarge its scope of interest and 


EARLY YEARS OF THE WOMAN’S AUXILIARY 21 


embrace work for the Indian and Negro, nor for those in 
foreign and heathen lands, declined to accept this oppor- 
tunity and privilege. We would like to record here that 
two years later, with loving patience and skill on Miss 
Emery’s part, and generosity and unselfishness on the 
part of the Association, it gracefully conceded to pressure 
and resolved the New York parish societies into the 
Domestic Committee of the New York Branch, and set 
free those of the other dioceses to connect themselves 
with their respective diocesan branches. 

Disappointed in their attempt with the Ladies’ 
Domestic Missionary Relief Association, the Secretaries 
then called Miss Emery and announced her appointment 
as General Secretary in a letter sent to rectors throughout 
the Church, asking their co-operation in the new enter- 
prise by the appointment of a secretary in each parish. 
To the fifteen hundred letters sent some three hundred 
favorable replies were received. 

This, with the delicate and tactful work of Miss 
M. A. Emery in dealing with existing societies of women 
throughout the Church, was the beginning of the Woman’s 
Auxiliary. She held her position a little more than four 
years, when on March 24, 1876, she handed in her resig- 
nation to become the wife of the Rev. Dr. A. T. Twing. 
Subsequently, that is in 1883, after the death of her 
husband, she was appointed Honorary Secretary, and in 
that capacity gave a voluntary and very valuable service 
until her death in San Francisco, in 1901, while attending 
General Convention in that city. 

A second daughter, Susan Lavinia, had already been 
associated with the Board as Associate Editor of The 
Young Christian Soldier, succeeding Miss Maria H. 
Bulfinch. In 1874 she resigned, to be in her turn suc- 
ceeded by her sister Julia, who for two years continued 


20 JULIA CHESTER EMERY 


the work of editing this missionary magazine for children, 
which the previous year had been changed from a monthly 
to a weekly publication, and had also absorbed that other 
paper for young people called The Carrier Dove. 

Julia became thus the third member of the family to 
give her time and talents to the Church’s Missionary 
Society. But these were not all, for when Mary resigned 
the secretaryship of the Woman’s Auxiliary, and Julia. 
was elected to that office, a fourth sister came to New 
York to take up the editorship, and held it until the 
Soldier itself ceased to be published. This fourth sister, 
Margaret Theresa Emery, also rendered most valuable 
services as Acting Secretary and leader of the Junior 
Department of the Woman’s Auxiliary, and as the duties 
of the Secretary increased took entire charge of the 
box work in the Auxiliary’s office, whose duties she per- 
formed most acceptably until 1918. Of these four sisters 
she is now the only one still living. 

As the history of the Woman’s Auxiliary is so largely 
the story of Julia Emery’s life, it 1s only through an 
intimate knowledge of the one that we may understand 
and appreciate the fullness of the other. 

It was Mrs. Twing’s own suggestion that her sister 
Julia should succeed her as Secretary, and in doing so 
she remarked, “ Julia is young, but she can do it. She 
has it in her.” That the suggestion was a wise one, and 
the action of the Board in accepting it was justified, is 
fully exemplified in the history of her forty years’ tenure 
of office. It must have required not a little faith on the 
part of those in authority to elect one so young, so 
modest and retiring. But that they appreciated her 
worth is shown in the following note, to be found in the 
postscript to the Fourth Annual Report of the Woman’s 
Auxiliary: 


EARLY YEARS OF THE WOMAN’S AUXILIARY 23 


We do not venture to say one word respecting the character and 
qualifications of the incoming Secretary; these are appreciated by all 
who have known her for the past two years as Associate Editor of the 
Y. C. S.; and we have entire confidence that, guided by the loving 
Hand of God, the course of the Woman’s Auxiliary, under administra- 
tion of the new Secretary, will be right onward in its career of use- 
fulness. 

(Signed) S.A. Davis 
GHEHALY 
R. C. Rocers 


Secretaries of Depts. of B. of M. 


In undertaking this work she was of necessity pushed 
into public life, but she was never aggressive, never 
unduly prominent, but always self-effacing and more than 
generous in according to others prominence and credit 
where due. 

She was elected May 3rd and assumed the office of 
Secretary on October 1, 1876. Of her work in detail 
there is no record except as it may be gleaned from the 
reports of the Woman’s Auxiliary, written by herself, and 
then only such items may be recognized as her work by 
one who knew. 

The original policy as created by Mary Emery was 
simple, and being free from complexities needed no change 
even after fifty years. Following the general plan of the 
Church’s government, no written constitution seemed 
necessary, and freedom of action made it easy and at- 
tractive to all to enter the ranks of this authorized society 
of Churchwomen. A group in any one parish doing 
missionary work of any sort could, if desired, call itself a 
parish branch of the Woman’s Auxiliary. These, taken 
collectively in any one diocese and under the bishop, re- 
porting to a general officer, or board of officers, formed a 
diocesan branch, who again reported to the General Sec- 


24 JULIA CHESTER EMERY 

retary, Miss Emery, which taken as a whole created the 
Woman’s Auxiliary to the Board of Missions. All bap- 
tized women in the Church were possible members, and 
all who took any part in praying, working, or giving for 
missions were considered active members. 

With no general constitution to follow, each diocese 
was allowed to organize and employ methods suitable 
to its needs, and to adopt a constitution, were one desired, 
best adapted to its own conditions. In the few eastern 
dioceses, the societies for furthering missionary work 
among Indians or Negroes, already established, were 
persuaded or encouraged to serve: as a nucleus and 
foundation upon which to build a more comprehensive 
organization. 

So varied were the plans of working that in these days 
of organized labour for all classes they would scarcely be 
recognized as members of one and the same society. Yet 
one can but feel that this very freedom, given to each and 
all, was what hastened the union of the various dioceses, 
strong and weak, and each missionary district, domestic 
and foreign, in one common cause, and created the 
eniente cordiale which exists today. 

To illustrate how various in form were these diocesan 
branches, let us recall the old days when Pennsylvania 
and New York had committees working for each of the 
missionary departments of that time, Domestic, Foreign, 
Indian, and Coloured, each with its staff of officers and 
each working independently; Long Island and New Jersey 
each had but one board of officers, interested in all of 
these fields together; Southern Ohio and Virginia each 
had but a single indefatigable officer, under the title of 
Secretary, who visited, organized, planned, and guided 
the work in each parish. One or two dioceses, such as 
Florida, worked at first for their own missions only, which, 


EARLY YEARS OF THE WOMAN’S AUXILIARY 25 


needing all that could be done for them, could therefore 
scarcely go outside of their own.borders. Others devoted 
their energies to the Domestic and Western field, but 
later were induced and able to take up work for foreign 
missions. All of these were welcomed as branches on 
equal terms, and while in their infancy were nurtured, 
encouraged, and educated until, reaching womanhood, 
they were able and anxious to embrace every department 
of the Church’s missionary work, and contribute ac- 
cording to their means to all her missionary interests. 


In this can be seen the wisdom of Mary Emery’s 
~ methods originally adopted, and that of her sister Julia in 
strictly adhering to a plan so successfully launched. The 
one strongest instrument wielded by Julia Emery, and 
the one which most naturally belonged to her because of 
her remarkable personality, was what is called the 
“ personal touch.”’ 


The work for which the Woman’s Auxiliary at first 
considered itself responsible had for its aims: ‘‘ (a) the 
increase of its (the Board’s) funds; (4) the circulation of 
missionary publications; (c) the education of mission- 
aries; (d) the making, collecting, and distributing of 
articles of clothing for missionaries and their families; 
(e) the education of missionaries’ children.” Miss Julia 
Emery, in her first report, dated September 1, 1877 (the 
Fifth Report of the Woman’s Auxiliary), thus defines the 
scope of the work undertaken at that time: 


The Domestic work is mainly confined to the preparing and send- 
ing of missionary boxes, and comparatively little money comes 
through this source to the Domestic treasury. To supplement the 
stipends with gifts which obviate expense otherwise unavoidable, 
which lighten care and toil and contrivance, that add so heavily to 
the burden under which our missionaries labour to do their holy work; 
which save from an overpowering weariness the wives and daughters 


26 JULIA CHESTER EMERY 


who share their labours and their sufferings; this, the members of the 
Auxiliary have always felt to be one of their chiefest privileges. 

It is a source of deep pleasure and thankfulness, and an incentive 
to further effort, to know that the work of the Auxiliary for Foreign 
Missions during the past year has been one not only of direct service 
to the missionaries and those for whom they labour, but also of indirect 
usefulness, perhaps much more important, to the Church at home. 
That parishes have been moved to give to this cause, that societies 
have been formed to work for it, and that individuals have been © 
constrained to recognize their duty in regard to it in a marked degree 
more widely and more heartily because of woman’s zeal and labour, 
are indeed facts demanding earnest gratitude. 


In conclusion she would appeal to each bishop in 
whose diocese there 1s no society or association of parish 
branches working in the missionary interests, to appoint 
some woman, capable, earnest, and devoted, to guide 
and promote such work, to form parish associations, to 
combine the scattered societies into an organized body, 
and to assert the claims of all our Church Missions, 
bringing them home to the hearts and consciences of the 
members of that body. 

These seem but timid ventures of faith in the light of 
what has been accomplished, and the tremendous tasks 
the Auxiliary is facing today, but in Miss Emery’s first 
years all was untried and fallow ground, the seed was 
sown in faith only, and was encouraged and fostered by 
earnest prayer and laborious efforts in awakening an 
interest among women who knew no work beyond their 
homes, and who were timid and cautious, and could only 
spread the knowledge of the Church’s missionary work 
by telling their personal friends. It was through this 
same “ personal touch” that Miss Emery herself per- 
suaded and inspired others to enter into the ranks of 
the Auxiliary. When asked once how she trained the 
workers, she replied, “I do not try to train them, I love 


EARLY YEARS OF THE WOMAN’S AUXILIARY 27 
them.” This is clearly visible through all her work. 
Love! She loved first of all her Saviour, she loved His 
Church and His children, and wanted all to know Him 
and be members of His Kingdom. No one was ever too 
small and insignificant nor too great and conspicuous but 
could find a place in her loving heart. With this as her 
incentive the Auxiliary could not but grow, and on the 
firmest foundations. 


CHAPTER II] 


Visits to England 


HE organizing of new branches, and maintaining the . 

interest of the old, involved an enormous amount of 
travel on Miss Emery’s part, for a visit from her did 
more than any number of letters either from the office or 
the missionary field could possibly have accomplished. 
When invited to visit any diocesan branch at a distance 
from the headquarters in New York, she would invariably 
try to arrange an itinerary taking in en route the inter- 
vening dioceses and parishes, and thus, both going and 
coming, utilize the time and money necessarily expended 
on the journey. She was frequently away from the office 
as much as a month or even two at a time. 

During the forty years she gave to the work of the 
Auxiliary, she visited, at least once, nearly every diocese 
and missionary district in the Union, where she never 
failed to leave the branches with fresh inspiration, further 
knowledge, and greater zeal. An occasional visit to some 
part of the mission field, an Indian Convocation in 
South Dakota, or one of the Industrial Schools for 
Coloured People in the South, gave her food for new 
interests and enlarged efforts with which to feed the ever- 
hungering branches. From the Triennial Meetings at 
the time and place of the General Conventions she in- 
variably returned, though physically and mentally tired, 
refreshed in spirit, because of the great enthusiasm shown 
by the diocesan officers and others and the inspiration 

28 


VISITS TO ENGLAND 29 


caught from contact with the missionary bishops and 
many straight from the field; and she came back full of 
plans and schemes for helping every mission station 
where the need seemed greatest. 


She was a good traveller,and never appeared to tire, 
but would go from place to place, always a welcome 
visitor, making addresses in a different town or city each 
day. While on the train, if alone, she usually occupied 
her time in writing reports or letters, and rarely missed 
a moment which she might put to some good use. 

Occasionally these trips took her beyond the confines 
of our own country, as when, in 1897, the Lambeth Con- 
ference being in session, she went to London to attend a 
gathering of English and American women, which was 
brought about largely through the energetic efforts of the 
. Honorary Secretary, her sister Mrs. Twing, whom she 
met in London, Mrs. Twing being on her return from her 
second journey around the world. 

Twenty-three of our American diocesan branches of 
the Auxiliary were represented at the Quiet Day held on 
July 7, 1897, in St. Saviour’s Church, Southwark, and at 
the Conference on the following day at St. Martin’s 
Town Hall, Charing Cross, where Miss Emery made an 
address. 

It was during her absence at this time that the Rev. 
Dr. William S. Langford, General Secretary of the Board 
of Managers, was so suddenly stricken and taken from 
us, on the second day of his vacation, the Church losing a 
wise and enthusiastic officer, and the Auxiliary a loving 
friend. Miss Emery bears testimony to this in her 
report for that year, in these words: 


In the early days, when the late General Secretary of the Board of 
Managers first came among us, he did not know us, we did not know 


30 JULIA CHESTER EMERY 


him. For a time there was the lack of mutual understanding which 
makes combined effort harmonious and delightful. But as years went 
on, and Dr. Langford came to know the Auxiliary, and the Auxiliary 
to recognize the manner of man he was, the Secretary of the Auxiliary 
would testify now, in the shadow of the removal of his sunny presence, 
to his ever-increasing confidence and friendliness, to his constant 
kindness and forbearance. Under his tutelage the lesson has been 
oft repeated of the welcome dependence upon the Board of Missions 
which the Auxiliary enjoys. And if sometimes to the women of the 
Church the men of the Church seem slow in their wise caution, they 
remember gratefully the friend and leader who could effect so much 
with a sudden outburst of enthusiastic effort, who carried his troubles 
with a smiling face, who thought no difficulty too hard to conquer, 
and who, in the last year of his life on earth, left them a motto for years 
to come, “‘ As thy days so shall thy strength be.” 


Thus was Miss Emery’s first visit to England sad- 
dened. She returned to this country after a number of 
weeks, and in the Spring of 1908, when many of the 
American bishops were preparing again to attend the 
Lambeth Conference, and previously the Pan-Anglican 
Congress to be held in London, the Bishop of New York 
appointed Miss Emery one of the six delegates to repre- 
sent the diocese at this latter gathering. The prospect 
of this second visit to England, which country always 
appeared to have for her an especial attraction, filled her 
with enthusiasm, and in planning for it she asked the 
privilege of a trip around the world, that she might be 
an eye-witness to the missionary work in the Far East. 
The Board readily granted her request, believing it would 
be a beneficial respite and change, and the knowledge 
gained be of far-reaching importance to the work. 


That the inspiration received, the knowledge gained, 
and the insight into the missionary problems of the foreign 
field fully justified such a trip has surely been acknowl- 
edged by all who have worked with and under Miss 


VISITS TO ENGLAND ai 


Emery in these later years. However, from the beginning 
she appears to have had that wonderful gift, vouchsafed 
only to the few, which enables one to see and to solve 
the difficulties of others. 

On May 30th of that year she sailed on the §S. S. 
Minnehaha, of the American Transport Line, for London. 
That she might have a companion, some one kindly made 
it possible for her to invite a friend, who shared her cabin 
and remained with her in London so long as the Congress 
was in session. As the author was the friend fortunate 
in being chosen as that companion, she may perhaps be 
able to give details of her visit to England which might 
otherwise remain unknown. 

The Presiding Bishop, the Rt. Rev. Dr. Daniel S. 
Tuttle, and several other bishops and clerical and lay 
delegates on board, made an agreeable and interesting 
party. The voyage itself was a pleasant one, with the 
exception of the blow and snow squall experienced before 
we were fairly outside of New York Harbour. Miss 
Emery, however, doubtless inheriting her father’s love for 
the sea, enjoyed every moment of it. She, with one other 
lady of the party, and but few men, never missed a meal 
during the entire nine days. 

Reaching Tilbury Docks on Whitsun-Monday, and 
Whitsuntide being a bank holiday in England, we 
anchored in the mouth of the Thames for twenty-four 
hours, so that not until June 9th, Tuesday, did we again 
set foot on shore. Arriving at St. Pancras Station, 
London, we went to the Hotel Metropole. 

The Congress not opening until Tuesday, the 16th, 
there was a week 1n which to see something of London 
and the numerous friends gathered there from America 
as well as from all other parts of the world. Again Miss 
Emery did not lose a moment of her precious time, but 


32 JULIA CHESTER EMERY 


visited Westminster Abbey, St. Paul’s, and various 
churches, always for an early Celebration or Service, and 
the S. P. G. and C. M. S. Houses, where she met Bishop 
and Mrs. Montgomery, Miss Mackenzie, and others of 
the English missionary societies. 

On June 13th, by invitation of friends, we motored 
to Oxford and back, motoring at that date being rather a 
novel experience. The trip occupied nine hours and a 
quarter, during which time we saw a number of the 
colleges, lunched at the Randolph, and on the return 
home stopped at the Red Horse Inn, Wycombe, for tea. 

What the Pan-Anglican Congress itself was, and what 
it accomplished, are well known. Miss Emery’s strict ad- 
herence to duty may, however, be witnessed in what she 
writes in her Annual Report of 1908, prepared while 
steaming through the Gulf of Suez on her way to the Far 
East. She writes of her visit to England: 


So far as the Secretary of the Auxiliary was concerned, the kindness 
of friends in the Board of Missions and the Auxiliary made her visit 
to England possible. She sailed on the 30th of May, and was present 
at the special meetings for women and girls, and the Intercessory 
Service of the Congress held in Westminster Abbey, at the Thank- 
Offering Service in St. Paul’s at its close, and daily throughout the 
interesting days at sessions of the Congress. 


In a series of eleven articles written while on the trip 
for The Spirit of Missions, and which appeared each 
month under the title “A Travelling Secretary,” she 
says of the Pan-Anglican Congress: 


To those who went with minds open to learn, there were large 
lessons to be gained from the wonderful care and skill with which the 
meetings were planned and conducted, and one saw a daily example 
of extraordinary promptitude, which might well be copied on our 
many far smaller occasions. . . . The meetings were not missionary 


VISITS TO ENGLAND 33 


meetings as we generally understand the term, nor meetings for 
creating and deepening enthusiasm by direct and eager appeal. They 
were rather the culmination of careful preparation and study, the 
thoughtful and clear presentment of conclusions reached with de- 
liberate and prayerful effort. To those of us who had not understood 
the exact nature of these discussions, and who had expected possibly 
more of fire and stimulation, there may have seemed something of 
loss; but it was the loss one might feel in watching the calm and 
ordered action of an army of regulars rather than the eager onset of 
volunteers. 


She was able to attend the opening Services of the 
Lambeth Conference at Canterbury and Westminster, 
and to visit the houses of the Society for the Propagation 
of the Gospel and the Church Missionary Society, and 
homes for the training of missionaries; she attended 
committee meetings of the S. P. G. and its Women’s Com- 
mittee, and met women of the Women’s Missionary 
Association in the Scottish Episcopal Church. 

In the second article of the series, describing the 
Houses and Homes of the S. P. G. and the C. M. S., she 
compares them with our own Church Missions House, 
the Home of the Woman’s Auxiliary, and tells how she 
noticed the smaller matters of economy in which we 
might emulate our English sisters. In the saving of 
electric light, for instance, and in selling the leaflets, 
rather than distributing them with the lavish hand, as 
was our custom. In this latter, however, there appears 
to have been a change, possibly at Miss Emery’s instiga- 
tion. She also tells of the S. P. G. hostel for training 
missionaries and deaconesses, and Sisters’ Houses. 

All of these places she visited frequently and attended 
many committee meetings, and the accompanying at- 
tractions, or what might be called “ side-shows,” for 
want of a better name, were of great interest to her. They 
were mostly advantages in seeing a side of English life 


34 JULIA CHESTER EMERY 


closed to the ordinary tourist. The garden-party given 
to the delegates at Marlborough House by Their Royal 
Highnesses the Prince and Princess of Wales, to meet 
the King (Edward VII) and the Queen, where Miss 
Emery was presented by the Archbishop of Canterbury 
to the Princess of Wales, the present Queen Mary; the 
receptions at Fulham and Lambeth Palaces; the trip to 
Knebworth, Lord Strathcona’s estate outside of London, 
were all thoroughly enjoyed by her. 

I cannot refrain from mentioning what probably 
would have amused my readers, could they have seen 
Miss Emery and me practising before a mirror, at the 
instigation of an English friend, the correct style of 
curtsey, lest at the garden-party we should come into 
direct contact with the Princess of Wales. It was fortu- 
nate that we had this opportunity, for we both had occa- 
sion to put our skill to the test. 

The day, July 4th, for the opening Services of the 
Lambeth Conference at Canterbury, Miss Emery, 1n- 
tensely anxious to attend, suggested that we should be at 
Victoria Station at the hour the special train was to 
carry the bishops, and find if by any chance we might 
also go. Reaching the platform, Miss Emery found many 
friends among the American bishops eager to assist her, 
buying our tickets and obtaining seats for us on the train. 

Arriving at Canterbury, the next step was to gain 
admittance to the Cathedral. Nothing daunted, she 
went at once to the door, and finding the verger, asked 
of him the way to accomplish this, saying she was from 
America and was very anxious to attend the Service. He 
kindly promised the seats if she would be at a certain 
door at a given time. After seeing the town and visiting 
St. Martin’s Church, very small and quaint, and said 
to be the oldest in England, she returned to find the 


VISITS TO ENGLAND 35 


verger as good as his word. He showed us very good 
seats, from where the wonderful procession of Anglican 
bishops could be well seen, and the beautiful, impressive 
Service thoroughly enjoyed. 

To the garden-party at the Deanery, immediately 
following, we again were assisted by the bishops, and 
allowed to pass through the gates as members of their 
families. It was altogether, indeed, a memorable day, 
and when we again reached London we felt well repaid 
for the effort. 

Another interesting feature of this visit to England 
was the view of the Winchester Historic Pageant, given 
July lst on the campus of the Winchester School, or 
St. Mary’s College, a beautiful spot enclosed by the 
ancient walls of the college with such magnificent trees 
as are seen only in England. Miss Emery hesitated 
some time, and not until several of her friends (the 
bishops) said to her that she should certainly not miss 
anything so interesting did she ask me timidly if I 
thought we might go. I certainly could see no reason 
against it, though I realized it was probably the nearest 
approach she had ever made toward seeing a play 
of any kind. 

The pageant itself was indeed interesting and well 
presented, but we also enjoyed the visit to the town, the 
Cathedral, where we attended a noon-day Service in the 
choir, the college buildings and grounds. As we left 
London by a 9.20 train in the morning, we were glad to 
leave for London again at 9.15 in the evening. 

At this time, the Pan-Anglican Congress and the 
Lambeth Conference being closed, Miss Emery accepted 
an invitation from Miss Mackenzie, Secretary of the 
Woman’s Missionary Society of the Scottish Episcopal 
Church, to visit Scotland, planning on her return to start 


36 JULIA CHESTER EMERY 


on her trip to the Far East and around the world. Some 
kind friend, hearing that she was intending to take the 
P. & O. steamer from England, and thus go all the way 
by sea to China, was distressed that she should make so 
comprehensive a journey and yet not include Paris, and 
therefore offered to make it possible for her to cross the 
Continent and with some friend spend a week en route in 
that city. It was on the morning of July 8th, when she 
was to start on her trip to Scotland, at Euston Station, 
where she knew I expected to be seeing some members of 
my family off for another part of Scotland, that she met 
and surprised me by saying she wanted me to go with her 
to Paris for a week, and told me, in a very hurried way 
and with a beaming face, the story of the friend’s offer. 
I promised to think it over and let her know my decision 
on her return from Scotland. To show how conscien- 
tiously she kept her secret, to this day I do not know the 
name of the kind friend or friends, should it not be the 
same, who made my visits at this time with Miss Emery 
possible. Should she still be living, and a possible reader of 
these pages, may I be allowed this opportunity of expressing 
my appreciation of her kindness and my grateful thanks. 

Miss Emery left that morning at ten for her ten days’ 
visit to Edinburgh, stopping on the way at Rugby, 
Coventry, Warwick, and Kenilworth. During this trip 
she met a number of men, as well as women, interested in 
the work of the Scottish Church in the mission fields, and 
did a considerable amount of sight-seeing in Edinburgh 
in addition to making many excursions to neighbouring 
points of historic interest. Here again she attended 
meetings of the Churchwomen’s Association of the 
Scottish Episcopal Church, where she says she was able 
to tell those Scotchwomen what the Church in America 
owes to the Church in Scotland. 


VISITS TO ENGLAND 37 


Just two years later Miss Emery made a second visit 
to Edinburgh, this time being sent by the Board of 
Missions as one of its representatives to the World Mis- 
sionary Conference, at which the Anglican Church was 
prominently represented. On June 4, 1910, she sailed 
on the S. S. Arabic in company with others, among whom 
were Dr. John W. Wood, now Executive Secretary of the 
National Council, and the Rev. Dr. Pott, President of 
St. John’s University in Shanghai. The visit lasted but 
three weeks, but she writes for The Spirit of Missions, 
under the title “Setting of the Conference”’: 


The Edinburgh Conference was too big and too serious a thing to 
be treated lightly by those whose most earnest prayer is that in His 
own good time, through the united efforts of His people, Christ may 
establish His Kingdom throughout the world. . . . When the Con- 
ference had once opened it would have been difficult indeed to have 
kept enthusiastic delegates away. 


And again, in the Thirty-Ninth Annual Report of the 
Woman’s Auxiliary: 


The Unity of Christendom was the underlying longing of the Con- 
ference in Edinburgh, and again a missionary secretary returns eager 
that the unity so desired for all Christians might be shown among the 
peoples of our dioceses and congregations, to the strengthening and 
encouragement of the missionary and his people in the field. She 
feels it would add to the influence of the Woman’s Auxiliary if the 
Board might reassert it to be, not a separate society of women of the 
Church to do a stated bit of work, but rather a helper to itself in all 
its plans, being a personal influence in behalf of all advance action 
the Board may undertake, with every society and individual whom it 
may reach. . . . She feels that the Woman’s Auxiliary is no longer 
auxiliary merely as a help in raising money, but that as each new 
development opens before the Board, the Auxiliary in that develop- 
ment may have its place to help. It stands ready now, as heretofore, 
to welcome change, hoping earnestly that change shall mean growth 
to greater and better things, more ways in which to serve, more 
weight of responsibility, the giving of leadership in the different 
paths of service to those most competent to lead. 


CHAPTER IV 


Around the World 


ETURNING to the narrative of Miss Emery’s 

second visit to Europe, we take it up again where 
she returned to London from Edinburgh. After another 
week there, and when our plans were completed, on 
Friday, July 24th, Miss Emery and I crossed the English 
Channel for a week’s real holiday on French soil. 

The crossing from Folkestone to Boulogne was really 
delightful, a calm and sunshiny day, the Channel itself 
proving at times, at least, one of the smoothest seas that 
could be imagined, just as though oil had been poured 
upon its surface. 

Reaching Boulogne at 1.30 we first secured seats in 
the railway carriage and then entered a café for luncheon. 
We had not been seated long before our attention was 
arrested by loud talking, evidently a quarrel between 
two Frenchmen. Miss Emery was frightened, and sug- 
gesting we should leave, was about to start to her feet, 
when I fortunately was able to reassure her and explain 
that the squabble was only between the proprietor and 
a patron over a few sous change, a not uncommon oc- 
currence amongst the generally excitable French people. 
Within a few minutes all was quiet again, and we finished 
our very simple repast in peace. I could not help but 
contrast this fear with her moral courage, and when it 
came to a matter of duty. Especially was I thinking of 
her then as she stood upon the platform of Carnegie 

38 


AROUND THE WORLD 39 


Hall in New York on the occasion of one of the Triennial 
Meetings of the Woman’s Auxiliary, and gave her 
message to the women of the Church, who crowded that 
vast auditorium, withouta faltering word orquavering voice. 

The time in Paris, all too short, was spent in visiting 
the principal places of interest, including Versailles, 
where we were greeted with such a terrific downpour of 
rain that we could not leave the station, but took the 
first train back to Paris. Three days later, attempting it 
again, we were more successful. 

But even in Paris Miss Emery could not forget she 
was the Secretary of the Woman’s Auxiliary. On leaving 
England she had written to the rector of the Holy Trinity 
Church and asked that the members of the Woman’s 
Auxiliary, and those of St. Luke’s Chapel, might be 
gathered to meet her. It was her one opportunity to 
speak face to face with those American women in a 
foreign country trying to do their share in the missionary 
work, “ women remote from their old homes, and living 
more or less temporarily amongst conditions strange to 
their native land, who might be spiritually strengthened 
by the continual reminder, which the Auxiliary is, of 
union with the one great body whose office is to grow 
till it embraces all the world.” Neither did she forget 
that other duty she had laid upon herself, the seeking 
out of the lonely, but soon after her arrival went to call 
on the deaconess in charge of the hospital for all English- 
speaking students and strangers. In both places was 
she made most welcome; especially was the deaconess 
delighted to invite her to supper, and also to escort her 
to the Conciergerie, where she kindly interpreted all the 
guide’s explanations. 

On August Ist, Saturday, the trip around the world 
began in earnest, when. Miss Emery, at 8. 45 a. M., 


40 JULIA CHESTER EMERY 


boarded the train en route for Naples, where she was to 
meet the steamer and, joining the Bishops of Shanghai 
and Tokyo, make her way to China. Never shall I forget 
her as she stood upon the rear platform of the car, and 
seemed to realize that in parting from me she was breaking 
the last link with home and was facing a long and distant 
journey in many strange lands, alone. I believe it was 
the only time I ever saw a tear in Julia Emery’s eye. I. 
might have felt the separation more myself had I not 
known that the wife and daughter of Bishop McKim 
were on the train also, that the two Bishops of Shanghai 
and Tokyo were on the steamer she would board at 
Naples, and that she would find a friend in every port, 
for no woman was better known nor more dearly loved 
than she throughout the Church. Wherever the American 
Church had been planted there would she surely receive a 
hearty welcome. 

Sailing from Naples August 14th, and passing through 
the Isthmus of Suez and the Red Sea, she reached Shang- 
hai one month later. 

To know what hopes and aims were hers as she looked 
forward to her visits to the various mission fields in 
foreign lands, we may quote from her report of 1907-1908, 
written whilst steaming through the Gulf of Suez: 


When the Board of Missions allowed her to start on such an 
enterprise, she hopes it was with the realization, as when they sent 
their General Secretary last year, that every such venture must mean 
enlargement of vision, the opening up of new occasions for service, 
the acceptance of new tasks. Already, from what has been seen and 
heard in Great Britain and on the Continent, a varied and constantly 
growing possibility is coming into view, and the desire grows with it 
that, when another year comes around, and the Secretary shall have 
returned with something more of experience, and so of hopefulness, 
than she had when she went out, the Board may be ready to ask of 
its Auxiliary far more than it ever yet has asked. 


AROUND THE WORLD 41 


Arriving at Shanghai she made it her first duty to 
visit the District of Hankow, and at once prepared for 
the trip of one thousand miles up the Yang-tse. An 
interesting and characteristic incident appeared a few 
months ago in The Spirit of Missions, related by Dr. 
H. W. Boone, one of our first medical missionaries in 
China, now residing in California, and which I venture 
to quote. He writes: 


When reading the account of the Memorial Service for Miss 
Julia C. Emery, I recalled an incident of her visit to China. 

The cholera was raging, and was especially virulent on the 
steamers on the Yang-tse River. The secretary of the Methodist 
Board, visiting their missions, had just died of it on oneof thesteamers. 

I felt it my duty to warn Miss Emery, and I said that her life 
was too valuable to be sacrificed, and begged her not to go up the 
river to visit the mission stations. She looked up with a quiet smile, 
and said, ““ Doctor, are you attending cholera cases daily?’ I said, 
“That is what I am here for.”’ She said, “I am here to visit our 
missions. IJ must go up the river. Give me written directions how 
to avoid the disease and I will follow them.” 

She went up the river and came through safely, though people 
were dying on the steamer. I write this to illustrate her calm courage 
and her faith in her Lord and Master when she was doing His work. 


Yes, “she went up the river”’ apparently alone, as 
no mention is made in her diary of any companion, and, 
“thank God, came through safely.” Entering the 
District of Hankow September 17th, thirty-five days and 
nights were spent in visiting the various mission stations, 
of which seventeen nights and nine and a half days were 
spent upon the waters of the Yang-tse. 

One rides up and down high hills in an open native chair or 
through the city streets in a jin-rick-sha, or a sedan chair enclosed in 
curtains; but one can ride behind horses on the maloo in Hankow. 
A wheelbarrow and a railroad train seemed the only conveyances left 


in the District for the Travelling Secretary to try. But both wheel- 
barrow and train are there. | 


42 JULIA CHESTER EMERY 


Thus she describes the various means of travel on 
the trip. 

Again reaching Shanghai she continued her kindly 
but careful scrutiny of the work of the Church in all its 
branches, taking in fresh inspiration and giving welcome 
encouragement to all of our faithful workers. 

It is neither possible nor advisable to try to follow 
Miss Emery every step of the way in this long journey 
in the Orient. Suffice it to say: 

She visited the missionary districts of China, Japan, the Phil- 
ippines, and the Hawaiian Islands, and in those visits saw every 


institution the Church has planted in them, and almost all the 
missions that have been established. (Annual Report of W. A., 1909.) 


I say it is impossible to follow every step, for there are 
apparently no comments extant made by her on what 
she saw, and therefore nothing to give but the bare facts 
and dates of her visits to the different countries and their 
towns or cities. What she saw of the mission stations and 
institutions then, in 1909, many of which were yet in their 
infancy, would be far from enlightening in view of what 
most of these colleges, schools, hospitals, etc., are today. 

To judge somewhat of the rapidity, and yet thorough- 
ness, with which she pursued this tour of inspection, if 
we may call it such, we will take the records for one week 
from her diary, which gives in each case the bare outline 
of her day’s visits and the people she saw, with no com- 
ments whatever. Opening the book at random we find 
we have fallen upon November 23rd, Monday, the day 
she reached Japan after leaving China on the §. S. Korea. 


Date — 1909, Nov. 23rd, Monday. Place — Yokohama and Tokyo. 

Saw Fuji. Talked with Miss E. and Dr. . Bp. McKim came 
to Yokohama. 12.20 train for Tokyo, Mrs. McKim and daughter, 
Mr. Smart, Mrs. Cole. 6 p. M. English Evensong. Hubard Lloyd, 
Mr. Sweet, Mr. Woodman, Bp. McKim. Reception in evening. 





AROUND THE WORLD 43 


Nov. 24th, Tuesday. Tokyo and Kawagoe. 

7.30. Cathedral, prayers, St. Paul’s (College) and St. Margaret’s 
(School). 10 a. M. train for Kawagoe, people met us. Auxiliary 
meeting. Big meeting in Club House (450). Mr. Tai to dinner. 
Visited little church before P. M. meeting. 

Nov. 25th, Wednesday. Kawagoe and Fuchu. 

Kindergarten Sewing-school. Train Koruma to Fuchu (Mr. Tai, 
Miss Upton, Miss Koraki). St. Mark’s people met us. Nice chapel, 
rectory, and garden. Met Auxiliary. Train at 6; to Tokyo 8. 

Nov. 26th, Thursday. Tokyo. 

Thanksgiving Day. Shopping. Church at 11. Mrs. Scheres- 
chewsky, Mr. and Mrs. Evans. After tiffin Miss Neely, Auxiliary 
officers. 6 P.M. Prayers. Mr. Jefferys and Mr. Williamson to dinner. 
Mr. Tucker, Mr. Lloyd in evening. 

Nov. 27th, Friday. Tokyo, Kumagaya, and Mayebashi. 

Left Tokyo with Mr. and Mrs. Evans. P. M. at Kumagaya, 
St. Paul’s Church. The Kuwadas. Meeting in Parish room (27). 
Reached Mayebashi towards evening. Evensong, Miss MacRae, 
the Evans. 

Nov. 28, Saturday. Mayebashi and Shimmachi. 

Went in a. Mm. to Shimmachi, Confirmation. Returned to Maye- 
bashi for tiffin and meeting (20). Tea at Miss MacRae’s. Miss M. 
at dinner at the Evans’. 

Nov. 29, Sunday. 

7 A.M. Holy Communion. 9 a.M. Sunday-school. 10 a. m. 
Morning Prayer, Baptism, and Confirmation. P. M. Takasaki, 
S.S. girls, evening service. Bp. McKim. Dinner with the Warnocks. 


This is but a specimen week, showing the way she 
travelled during those ten months after leaving Paris 
before she again set foot on her own land. And it is by 
.no means a unique week, for there appears through the 
whole journey to have been no let-up at any time. 

These notes, jotted down upon the pages of her diary, 
are but skeletons of what she did and saw, and the only 
further notes we have which might clothe them with 


44 JULIA CHESTER EMERY > 


interest through her descriptions or comments are con- 
tained in those same articles of “The Travelling Sec- 
retary’ before mentioned, published in The Spirit of 
Missions. ‘There must have been many interesting and 
some amusing incidents during this time of which there 
is no record, except as it may have been in her home 
letters. These letters were very voluminous, as when 
away from home it was her invariable custom to give 
every minute detail of each day’s doings, writing on 
trains or steamers, or, as Bishop McKim tells, “ even 
while travelling in a ’rick-sha.”” No wonder the deck 
steward on the S. S. Lutzow, as she sailed towards Hong 
Kong on her way to Manila, thought she “wrote too 
much.,”’ 

Hawaii was the last land she visited before she reached 
San Francisco on the 10th of May in this same year. One 
may imagine with what longing eyes she looked toward 
the East and her home in New York; to seeing her family 
once more and being able to tell of all she had seen and 
done; but the opportunity for further duties lay before 
her, and she must not shirk, but embrace the opportunity 
to visit the diocesan branches on the Pacific Coast and 
the missionary districts west of the Rockies. 

In the month after her return, therefore, to the States, 
she travelled in the West, visiting the missionary districts 
of Sacramento, Olympia, Spokane, Eastern Oregon, 
Utah, and Nevada, as well as the Dioceses of California, 
Los Angeles, and Oregon. In this was she able to see in 
some places the Woman’s Auxiliary and its results as she 
had never seen them before, in others as she had not seen 
them for many years. 

Sunday, June 20th, saw Miss Emery again in New 
York, the long journey ended, the trip happily accom- 
plished. 


AROUND THE WORLD 45 


It was not until the following Autumn that I returned 
home, having remained abroad more than a year after she 
left me in Paris. As my steamer neared the dock at 
New York, one raw, bleak November day, I, looking out 
from the deck to scan the crowd for a familiar face, soon 
saw at that early hour of the morning, in the dampness 
and cold, Julia Emery standing on the wharf, alone. 


CHAPTER V 


Results of Forty Years’ Labour 


T would indeed be a difficult task to give within the 
pages of a single chapter any adequate idea of the 
results of Miss Emery’s faithful labour, nor does it seem 
necessary, as the Church is more or less familiar with the 
work accomplished during her forty years as Secretary. 
No story of her life, however, would be complete without 
a summary, at least, of what she did, or, better still, some 
conception of how she did it. This latter could be known 
only to the few who, intimately associated with her in the 
work, could watch her day by day and possibly imbibe 
some of her spirit. | 
Results themselves are generally measured most ac- 
curately by comparison, and this can be obtained only 
by considerable research, for which but few have the 
opportunity or leisure. Therefore they are given. Going 
back to the conditions and work of the Auxiliary as they 
were when Julia Emery took it over on the resignation 
of her sister Mary (afterwards Mrs. Twing) in 1876, we 
find that the number of branches was thirteen, mostly in 
the dioceses of the Atlantic States, four only being of the 
Middle West, and one county where a society to aid 
Indians was organized in Connecticut. Each year others 
were added, until the whole Church, through its dioceses 
and missionary districts, or “ jurisdictions,” as they were 
at first called, was represented, and Her women had 
become active workers for the cause of Christ. To the 
46 


RESULTS OF FORTY YEARS’ LABOUR 47 


women of each diocese the work of the Auxiliary was 
presented through their bishop, and gently, tenderly, were 
they urged to take their share in it. As soon as a new 
diocese was created, generally by the division of one 
already existing, Miss Emery at once suggested the im- 
mediate organization of a branch for each diocese, that the 
previously enkindled interest of the more remote parishes 
be not allowed to die through neglect. 

Thus it came about that in 1916, when Miss Emery 
resigned the secretaryship, there were ninety-two diocesan 
branches, or one in every diocese and missionary district 
in the American Church, including Africa, China, Japan, 
Alaska, Brazil, Hawaii, and the isolated parishes in 
European cities. A better idea may be gleaned from the 
following quotation from the Auxiliary’s Forty-Fifth 
Annual Report, Miss Emery’s last, written just before 
her resignation: 


The Woman’s Auxiliary to the Board of Missions as it is known 
today, with its provincial organization and officers in five of the 
provinces, with diocesan officers in all its dioceses and missionary 
districts, with its parish branches and officers in over 5,500 of the 
8,500 parishes and missions, and an individual membership which has 
never been numbered; with its yearly gifts of more than $100,000 
toward the Board’s appropriations and specials in money and boxes 
of $260,000 more; with its Triennial United-Offering, now reaching 
$300,000 and beyond; with its ever-increasing intelligence through 
meetings, conferences, summer schools, institutes, mission study, 
and reading, and its ever-rising tide of prayer; with its reiterated 
efforts to reach all women and train and enlist the children and 
young people of the Church — this Woman’s Auxiliary to the Board 
of Missions is the development of that ““ Woman’s Society, Auxiliary 
to the Board of Missions,” which the Reverend Secretaries of the 
Board were empowered to organize in 1871. 


That for all this she gives no credit to her own efforts 
is seen as she continues: 


48 JULIA CHESTER EMERY 


The Auxiliary gratefully acknowledges the unstinted kindness 
and the friendly appreciation shown it through all these years. And 
it records with grateful thanks, as well, that approval and personal 
interest on the part of the bishops of the Church and the parochial 
clergy and all of our missionaries, which have made the establishment 
of the Auxiliary in diocese and missionary district, in parish and 
mission, a possibility. 


Nor is she satisfied to sit down in contented con- 
templation of the results, when she says: 


But it is not satisfied with itself nor content to feel that the 
women of the Church have compassed their capacity for helpfulness. 
The gain of $29,000 toward the Board’s appropriations, largely in 
response to the Emergency appeal, the suggestions that led to the 
day of unbroken intercession, now twice kept at the Church Missions 
House, are by no means a sufficient answer to the Board’s latest 
call. We feel that Board and bishops and parochial clergy may 
gain much more from this company of women who stand so ready 
to co-operate with the men of the Church under their leadership in 
the widest plans that may be made for the spread of Christ’s King- 
dom throughout the world. Therefore, at this time, we ask the 
Board if, in reviewing the Auxiliary’s work, it will not hold back its 
praise, and, instead, give a judicial and constructive help; tell us 
what it sees not of strength only, but of weakness; not of success, but 
failure, and set before us some call which shall exercise the very best 
that not only the women of today’s Auxiliary, but all the women of 
the Church, can give. 


But we must give some acknowledgment of our 
appreciation of her efforts as we realize what strides 
had been taken and what great things accomplished in 
these forty years. Great undertakings and great ac- 
complishments; but not until we recall that in the begin- 
ning they were days when no typewriters, no stenog- 
raphers, were known, nor even telephones, and every 
message given or answered meant a letter written by 
hand. The long epistles from the mission field, used for 
information and to arouse an interest in the Church at 


RESULTS OF FORTY YEARS’ LABOUR 49 


home, were laboriously copied not once, but often many 
times, that they might be distributed amongst the 
diocesan and parish branches. At one time various 
devices were used for multiplying copies of these letters 
for circulation, but with indifferent success, as the 
amount of time saved was too small to justify the trouble. 

Notwithstanding these hindrances, which were not 
thought of as such because we knew then of no other 
methods, the work grew steadily and increased rapidly, 
as witnessed to above, and assistance was necessary from 
time to time until a permanent assistant became 1m- 
perative. This assistant was her other sister, Miss M. T. 
Emery, who, as editor of the children’s paper published 
by the Board, became acting secretary for the Junior 
Department, and later, until 1918, carried on the box 
work. In addition, in 1878 Miss Emery chose a personal 
friend to serve as her amanuensis, for the morning hours 
only at first, later for a full day. It was not, therefore, 
until the Missionary Society, with its Auxiliaries, leaving 
the rooms in the old Bible House, made its home in the 
Church Missions House that telephones and typewriters 
were introduced; not until after the year 1900 was a 
stenographer employed. In 1909 a junior secretary, in 
1914 an educational secretary, and in 1916 a travelling 
secretary were added to the staff of the Auxiliary. And 
so the march went on, and like a huge snowball gathered 
and grew as it went. 

But here, again, it was not only to the staff, but 
Miss Emery would not omit to give credit wherever due, 
for she writes in one of her last contributions to the 
literature of the Woman’s Auxiliary, a little pamphlet or 
leaflet called “A Half-Century of Progress,’ being a 
history of the Woman’s Auxiliary to the Board of Mis- 
sions, 1871-1921. (W. A. 122.) 


50 JULIA CHESTER EMERY _ 


But through all the years of the Woman’s Auxiliary the officers at 
headquarters have chiefly depended upon the voluntary service so 
unstintedly given, and which no earthly record can ever show, which 
diocesan and parochial officers have rendered. Choice women — 
choice byreason of their Christian character, their churchly zeal, their 
quick or studious intelligence, their honoured names, their ability 
to plan and to do large things — have repeatedly been placed in the 
care of Auxiliary work in parish or diocese, and have not failed their 
trust. One such, whose name was synonymous with far-reaching 
and abounding helpfulness, was once asked how she came to care, 
and the answer was that her rector had given her office in the Aux- 
iliary, about which she had till then known nothing. A word is suf- 
ficient — there are such women now, able but ignorant, whom to call 
to responsibility would awaken to service. 

From women such as these the diocesan officers were chosen. 
They now number more than 1,100. .. . 

On October 14, 1874, from 2 to 5.30 Pp. M., the first general meeting 
was held, in the Sunday-school room of Calvary Church, New York, 
with sixty-six women present from five dioceses. On October 9, 1919,* 
at 7.30 a. M., Saint Paul’s Cathedral, Detroit, was crowded with the 
representatives of this same Woman’s Auxiliary, who had come from 
ninety-two dioceses and districts to spend fourteen days in conference 
and study, in prayer and plans, for a great advance. 


With these results, which I have tried with imperfect 
success to give, the Church is already familiar, but it is 
or was the privilege of the few to know how she accom- 
plished them. What patient, painstaking, arduous, and 
conscientious efforts she put day by day into her work | 
could only have been persisted in through all those years 
because of her faith and love for the Master and her zealous 
desire that all His children, of whatever blood and in what- 
ever clime, should come to know Him as their Saviour. 

It was through her personality, and by her character 
of highest integrity and never-swerving loyalty to the 
Church and its Board of Missions, that she made her 


* Only three years after Miss Emery’s resignation as Secretary. 








AT THE TRIENNIAL OF 1913 


RESULTS OF FORTY YEARS’ LABOUR 51 


greatest progress, sinking her own identity always into 
that of the work. Her ever-ready sympathy for all dis- 
couraged and disheartened and weary labourers from the 
mission field, and her loving tact in straightening out the 
difficulties and perplexities of diocesan officers, made her 
the friend-in-need to all. There were often days when 
the office was the scene of a steady stream of visitors, 
but each received the same welcoming smile and the 
same ready ear and eager effort to help. It is difficult to 
put into words this intangible something which was 
peculiar to Miss Emery, but those who knew and re- 
member her at her best understand. The various sec- 
retaries of the Board knew, and came for a talk with her 
in their darkest hours of anxiety and despondency over 
their self-consciousness of failure to arouse the Church to 
Her sense of duty; the missionary bishops knew, when in 
their hurried visits to New York they never failed to find 
a few moments for a visit to the Auxiliary room, where 
they would get refreshment and strength to return to 
their work; the lonely and weary missionary, home on a 
furlough, knew, when Miss Emery sought her out the 
moment of her arrival from the mission field, even to 
meeting her at the dock or railway station, and visiting 
her in a hospital, if ill. We diocesan officers also knew 
who could make the best suggestions which would get us 
out of our peculiar difficulties, and send us back to them 
with a feeling that our efforts had not been entirely in 
vain after all. 

We have all heard of a “‘ New England conscience.”’ 
Miss Emery certainly had it, and in view of her ancestry 
came by it rightly. During the term of Dr. Langford’s 
office as General Secretary of the Board of Managers, the 
Church was facing a large deficit, and was seriously con- 
sidering the reduction of salaries and stipends of the 


52 JULIA CHESTER EMERY 


missionaries. On hearing this Miss Emery wished at 
once to offer to relinquish a portion of her own, saying 
that ‘if the missionaries’ salaries must be cut down, so 
must those of the secretaries.”’ She was dissuaded, how- 
ever, wisely or unwisely, from making this offer, and 
through the herculean efforts of Dr. Langford, the over- 
strain of which possibly caused his death, the Church, or 
individual members of the Church, aroused themselves 
to the situation and the catastrophe was averted. I 
never felt quite sure, had the reverse happened, and the 
apathy of the Church warranted such a step, whether 
Miss Emery would have been guided by the advice given 
her, or keeping her own counsel have done what she at 
first felt was right. 


Many individual members of the Woman’s Auxiliary 
contributed a sum of money amounting to $16,019.60, 
which was presented to the Misses Emery in 1913 at the 
Triennial in New York. Known as the “ Emery Fund,” 
it should yet not be confounded with the fund of the same 
name of the Jubilee Year, 1921. It was placed with the 
Board of Missions, to be invested, and the income paid 
to Miss Julia C. Emery, during her life, and then to 
Miss Margaret T. Emery, if she should survive her. 
After the death of the survivor, the income to be used as 
they might dictate. 


At the following Triennial Miss Emery tells in her 
report of 1916 what disposition she made of the income 
thus received: 


The gift has enabled us to enjoy, in larger measure than we could 
otherwise have done, the happy blessedness of missionary giving. 

The contributors to this fund kindly placed the choice of its final 
disposal by the Board of Missions in the Secretary’s hands, and it 
seems right that she should report her decision in the matter. 


RESULTS OF FORTY YEARS’ LABOUR 53 


At her request the principal will go to the Board of Missions as a 
perpetual fund whose interest shall be devoted to General Missions 
in the yearly work for which the Board is responsible. 


And then she adds: 


Sometimes the objection is made that the Living Church should 
do the work of its own generation, and not fall back upon the in- 
heritance of those who have died. To your Secretary it seemed that 
this continuous gift were rather a participation with friends on earth 
of a still living member of Christ’s Body, and she dwells on the 
matter, not only to express again her sister’s appreciation and her 
own, but also to suggest that in making a last disposition of those 
means with which God has entrusted them, many members of the 
Auxiliary may place some portion in the care of the Board, to enable 
it to grasp some present opportunity,or as a resource in time of need. 


It must have been in the nineties that Miss Emery 
asked me seriously to promise I would tell her as soon as 
I thought her usefulness as Secretary of the Auxiliary 
had come toanend. Very reluctantly I made the promise, 
but feeling at the time that she herself would probably 
know long before I should when such a time had come. 
Her action proved that I was right. 

On completing her fortieth year of service, in October, 
1916, during the season of the General Convention in 
St. Louis, Miss Emery presented to the President of the 
Board of Missions her formal resignation. She had been 
considering this step for some time, and had even spoken 
of it to her family, who did not look upon it at first with 
favour. As was usual with her she made no further com- 
ment, but started for St. Louis to attend the Auxiliary’s 
Triennial. During the whole session she said nothing, 
but on the last day wrote her letter of resignation and 
sent it to Bishop Lloyd. The contents of this letter were 
not disclosed, not even to her assistants, until several 
weeks later, when she had returned to New York. 


54 JULIA CHESTER EMERY 


That this resignation was accepted with many regrets 
and misgivings we can well appreciate, and with Miss 
Grace Lindley, her assistant for many years and her 
worthy successor, we would say, as she does, in her 
report of 1916-1917: 


The Auxiliary would gladly join in the resolution passed by the 
Board when Miss Emery’s resignation was presented to them: 

“The retirement of Miss Julia C. Emery from the office of 
General Secretary of the Woman’s Auxiliary affords to the Board 
an opportunity to give expression to the affectionate regard in which 
she has long been held by us all. Under her wise guidance and the 
inspiration of her leadership, the women of the Church have ac- 
complished great things for the extension of the Kingdom. Her 
wisdom, her graciousness, her courage, her zeal, are qualities which 
we of the Board will strive to emulate. Her retirement cannot be 
permitted to deprive the mission work of the Church of her help and 
counsel. She will always be regarded by the Board as an adviser and 
a colleague. By the Church her services will always be held in loving 
and grateful remembrance.” 


At the Conference of Auxiliary officers in January, 
1917, the Woman’s Auxiliary passed the following pre- 
amble and resolution: 


The Conference of diocesan officers received with surprise and 
regret Miss Emery’s announcement that her resignation had been 
presented to and accepted by the Board of Missions. The majority 
of the officers and members of the Woman’s Auxiliary have never 
known any other General Secretary, and the example always before 
them of perseverance, devotion to duty, loyalty to the Board, and 
entire self-forgetfulness has been a constant incentive to give of their 
best to the work best worth doing. 

Miss Emery’s willingness to receive suggestions and adopt new 
methods, even when advanced by women without a tithe of her 
experience or judgment, has been most remarkable, and shows her 
breadth of mind as well as her ability. Therefore, be it 

Resolved, That this conference wishes to express in the warmest 
terms its affection and admiration for Miss Emery, and that it will 


RESULTS OF FORTY YEARS’ LABOUR 55 


endeavour to show its appreciation of the great work she has done 
by doing that which will please her most, working ever more earnestly 
for the extension of the Kingdom of God. 


On the last day but one of that year, in which her 
resignation meant so much to many people, Miss Emery 
sent out to every diocesan officer the following letter, 
which, as she says, “is not a farewell letter,” but it was 
her last official communication to them, many of whom 
had worked with her for years enjoying her loving guid- 
ance and friendship: 


December 30, 1916. 
My dear 

I am writing you because you have seen my resignation as 
Secretary of the Woman’s Auxiliary. 

You do not need me to say that it has been a great privilege and 
joy to have held the office for forty years, or that I would not lightly 
give it up. You have given me your loving confidence so long, I am 
looking for it also in this. 

My belief is that the great advance of the Woman’s Auxiliary 
is to lie along the lines of diligent and prayerful study and the devel- 
opment of missionary training in our young people in co-operation 
with our parish clergy and the superintendents and teachers in our 
Sunday-schools. 

The recent gains in the growth of mission study among us owe 
much to the schools — as they may well be called — conducted at 
our last three Triennials under Miss Lindley’s leadership; the 
Sunday-school plan, inaugurated at our last Triennial in St. Louis, 
is her own. By placing her for the next three years as Secretary of the 
Woman’s Auxiliary, the Board is giving her, and you with her, the 
opportunity to develop both plans in such a way as to show the 
Church, at our next Triennial, their value. They are plans which 
appeal to our younger women with peculiar force. It is my earnest 
prayer that they may be the means of raising up a great company of 
young women to share with us in all the tasks of the Woman’s Aux- 
iliary, and to carry on its work without break and in the most entire 
harmony. 

For this is not a farewell letter. To give up office does not 
oblige me to give up work, and that I am still allowed. The box 





56 JULIA CHESTER EMERY 


work will continue as for years past under the care of Miss M. T. 
Emery. Bishop Lloyd and Miss Lindley have asked me to continue 
to edit the Auxiliary pages of The Spirit of Missions, and in this I 
shall more than ever want your help. Will you not tell me where 
they have seemed inadequate, what kind of matter you could spare 
from them, what you want to see in them, and add your experiences 
in study and Sunday-school and Junior work, the latest and most 
telling news from the mission field, questions you would like to have 
answered? All will be welcome. 

And through this year I am to follow with you in our Pilgrimage 
of Prayer. Please call upon me for any helps you may need, and © 
please tell me of your week when it has passed. 

I expect to be at the Missions House to see our Auxiliary and 
missionary visitors, with more time, perhaps, than heretofore to 
make them welcome. I am hoping also to visit when desired, and to 
help you as I may be able in telling of the Auxiliary and the work. 

I want to be your friend and helper still, but I shall feel an added 
joy in your faithful friendship, as I see you giving to Miss Lindley, 
in her new responsibility and office, an ever-growing affection and 
the heartiest and happiest co-operation. 

With loving thanks, and best wishes for this New Year and all 
the years to come, 

Yours very sincerely, 


(Signed) Juria C. Emery. 


Again we find in Miss Lindley’s first report this added 
testimony and appreciation of Miss Emery’s forty years’ 
labour: 


As we review the past year in the Auxiliary, two events stand 
out most prominently, Miss Emery’s resignation and the Pilgrimage 
of Prayer. This is the first report of the Woman’s. Auxiliary ever 
signed by any other name than that of Emery. For four years Miss 
Mary A. Emery was the Secretary; for forty years Miss Julia C. 
Emery. It would be almost impossible for the Auxiliary ever to 
express adequately what Miss Emery has done for the Auxiliary, and 
through it for the Church, but no history of the development of the 
work of women in the Church will fail to put her name high in the 
American Church. 


RESULTS OF FORTY YEARS’ LABOUR 57 


At the next Triennial, held in Detroit in 1919, the 
Woman’s Auxiliary, in general session on October 17th, 
passed the following resolutions with reference to the 
retirement of Miss Julia C. Emery, and that of her sister 
a few years previous, Miss Margaret T. Emery: 


Whereas, The Board of Missions has with great regret accepted 
the resignation of Miss Julia C. Emery as Secretary of the Woman’s 
Auxiliary after forty years of faithful service, and 

Whereas, We feel that the growth of the Auxiliary and its use- 
fulness have been largely due to her untiring zeal and devotion, and 

Whereas, She has endeared herself to us of the Auxiliary and to 
countless men and women throughout the Church by her sympathetic 
interest and loving counsel, therefore be it 

Resolved, That we, the members of the Woman’s Auxiliary, in 
triennial meeting assembled, do place on record our grateful and 
loving appreciation of Miss Emery’s labours in the cause of our 
Master, and be it further 

Resolved, That a copy of this resolution be sent to Miss Emery, 
and that it be placed on the minutes of the meeting. 


Whereas, For forty-three years the Woman’s Auxiliary to the 
Board of Missions has been blessed with the devoted services of 
Miss Margaret T. Emery, who has given the best years of her life to 
the work of Christ and His missions, with earnest endeavour and 
intimate knowledge of the needs of the ministry in the mission field, 
and 

Whereas, With sympathetic delicacy she so dignified both giving 
and receiving that through the length and breadth of the land the 
personal touch between those who had contributed in filling boxes 
and the recipients was felt as an inspiration through the spirit of her 
loving consecration; therefore 

Be It Resolved, That the appreciation of the Woman’s Auxiliary 
be expressed, through its members in session assembled at the Tri- 
ennial of 1919, and conveyed to Miss Margaret T. Emery for the life 
of service which must beautify all her years. 


CHAPTER VI 


Looking Back 


1. Reminiscences 


HILE still breathing the atmosphere of the Church 

Missions House, or, rather, perhaps that of the 
Bible House, where the original headquarters of the 
Auxiliary were situated, we might with possible interest 
look back over the years and learn something of the be- 
ginnings of what we now think of as long-established 
customs. 

During the days of the Centennial and Jubilee cele- 
brations of the Missionary Society of the Church and its 
Auxiliaries, in 1921, the Rev. C. E. Betticher, late editor 
of The Spirit of Missions, asked 1f I would write a series 
of short articles for that magazine on what I knew or 
remembered in the way of interesting incidents connected 
with the work. A few days later, while I was considering 
this proposal, I was shocked to learn of Mr. Betticher’s 
very sudden death. The articles were not written. 

In these pages, while we are reviewing somewhat the 
earlier and later years of the Auxiliary, 1t may not be out 
of place to record these incidents, which, though not of 
special historic importance, are yet indirectly, at least, 
associated with Miss Emery, and may be of interest to 
many of the older workers, and possibly to not a few of 
those more recently taking up the reins. (The reader will 
pardon the mention of any personal references made in 
the reminiscences. The apology must be the fear of all 

58 


LOOKING BACK — 1. REMINISCENCES 59 


knowledge or remembrance of them being lost should they 
fail to be written now.) 

Let me carry you back in thought, you charter and 
older members of the Auxiliary, to the little room in the 
old Bible House in New York which was rented by the 
Board of Missions as a headquarters and office for Miss 
Mary A. Emery, when in 1871 she was asked to organize 
the women of the Church into a society auxiliary to its 
own. The building is still standing, and occupies the 
entire block on Fourth Avenue between 8th and 9th 
Streets. “‘ Room 21” was at the end of the long corridor 
on the second floor, and on the opposite side from the 
offices of the Domestic and Foreign Committees. On the 
glass panel of the door were painted the words, “‘ Woman’s 
Auxiliary.” 

Opening this door one would invariably be met witha 
welcoming smile from Miss Emery (at first Mary, and 
later Julia), as she sat at the large table in the centre of 
the room, facing it. What a flood of pleasant memories 
floats back to me as I recall this little room where I spent 
the working hours of nine happy years as an assistant! 
It was not attractive in outward appearance — it was 
even shabby and dingy. The tables and bookcases were 
not new, and the large horsehair-covered sofa was a relic 
of a past generation. But — we loved it, and the atmos- 
phere created by Miss Emery and her sisters gave it 
always a feeling as of “‘home”’ to each of its many and 
constant visitors. Beginning with Bishop Tuttle, then 
of Montana, Idaho, and Utah, whose recent passing, even 
after his thirty-seven years as the Diocesan of Missourt, 
has left a blank in the missionary world deeply felt by 
every member of the Auxiliary — Bishop Tuttle, whom 
I called our “‘ ray of sunshine,” because he never failed 
when in New York to visit the Rooms daily, if only to 


60 JULIA CHESTER EMERY 


thrust in his head, and with a cheery voice to say, ““ Good 
morning’’; and every other missionary bishop, numbering 
some nine or ten only in those days, missionaries from all 
parts, whether from Africa, China, or Alaska, or nearer 
home; a diocesan officer of the Auxiliary or a personal 
friend; all were made to feel they had come at the right 
time and to the right place for sympathy, interest, and 
encouragement. 

It was in this room that noonday prayers were first 
said, at the suggestion of the Rev. Dr. William Hobart 
Hare, later Bishop of Niobrara, or later still of South 
Dakota, but at that time, in 1872, Foreign Secretary of 
the Foreign and Domestic Missionary Society. 

At the noon-hour Miss Emery would straighten up 
her desk and, placing a prayer-book and hymnal on the 
table, prepare for the entrance of the several secretaries, 
office workers, and possible visitors. She would also 
make a choice of the hymn, which was played (by her 
assistant, who also led in the singing) on the small 
melodeon in the room. This was followed by a few mis- 
sionary prayers read by one of the reverend secretaries. 
“No. 21 Bible House ” was, therefore, the first ““chapel ” 
of the Mission Rooms, and in it was begun the daily 
custom of noonday prayers, now held in the more at- 
tractive Chapel of the Church Missions House. 

While the Rev. Dr. William S. Langford was General 
Secretary of the Board of Managers, who, as every one 
knows, was so identified with and instrumental in the 
building of a house for the Church’s missionary work, 
I was Miss Emery’s assistant. Knowing that Dr. 
Langford and the Board were busily seeking a suitable 
site for such a house, one morning, on my way to the 
office as usual, I noticed a sign ‘“‘ For Sale’ on some two 
or three old basement houses on Fourth Avenue, between 


LOOKING BACK —1. REMINISCENCES 61 


21st and 22nd Streets, in the middle of the block, squeezed 
in between the small chapel adjoining Calvary Church 
and the building on the 22nd Street corner. 

When Dr. Langford made us his daily visit, I told him 
of this, as it appeared to me, suitable site for the Missions 
House. He at once scorned the suggestion. On my asking 
why, he said, “Too near Calvary Church.” As [ hap- 
pened to be a member of Calvary Parish, I felt a trifle 
hurt, but said no more. Not many weeks later I learned 
that the Board had made an offer for these same lots, and 
the property was secured. 

The Board wanted the corner lot also, but the Society 
for the Prevention of Cruelty to Animals, which owned 
and occupied the building thereon, refused to sell. How- 
ever, when the walls of the adjoining houses were torn 
down, the Building Commissioners condemned the corner 
building as unsafe. The Board immediately renewed its 
offer. This time it was accepted, and the S. P. C. A. 
moved its quarters to the corner of Madison Avenue and 
26th Street. 

The way now being clear, the architect and builders 
went ahead, and on October 3, 1892, the cornerstone was 
laid. January 25, 1894, the Foreign and Domestic Mis- 
sionary Society’s new home was dedicated — the Church 
Missions House — where it stands today. 

A large room on the second floor was devoted to the 
work of the Woman’s Auxiliary. For some few years this 
room was sufficient for the housing of all its work, but has 
since been partitioned in various ways to accommodate 
the enlargement of the work and for the convenience of 
the workers. Today, with the exception of the space 
occupied by the Chapel and the Board Room, the whole 
of this second floor has been given over to the Auxiliary’s 
use. 


62 JULIA CHESTER EMERY 


Miss Emery has left in her own handwriting a memo- 
randum of the gifts with which the original room was 
furnished, giving some descriptive details. It is here 
quoted as she wrote it: 


The Woman’s Auxiliary Room had a tablet marked to name 
it the Mary Edson Hall. This was not to distinguish her as an 
especially active member of the Auxiliary. I do not know if she 
were an active member at all. She was a member of Grace Parish, 
New York, and gave $50,000 towards the building of the Church - 
Missions House. The Board wished to commemorate the gift by a 
tablet, and, as she was a woman, ordered it placed in the Auxiliary 
Room. [The tablet is now found in the hall on the second floor.| 

The tablet to Miss Cornelia Jay is a reminder of one of the 
earliest and most devoted officers of the Auxiliary. In 1874 Bishop 
Horatio Potter made her Chairman of the New York Committee on 
Work for Foreign Missionaries, and at a time when that work was 
little known and perhaps less liked in the diocese, her persistent 
effort introduced it into parish after parish, and her faithful care 
nourished and strengthened interest in it for many years. 

The Woman’s Auxiliary as a whole contributed towards the fur- 
nishings of the Auxiliary Room and the Chapel, first occupied in 1894. 

The clock was given by the Delaware Branch, Bishop Coleman 
designing the case and selecting the motto — “‘ Redeeming the time.” 
The carving was done by a Swiss carver in Wilmington, Delaware. 

The large table was selected as the gift of the Missouri Branch by 
Mrs. Tuttle. 

A smaller table and a set of shelves were from Christ Church, 
Rye, New York. 

The settle was made in Portland, from Oregon maple, and was 
sent across the country by the Oregon Branch. 

The two African chairs were brought over by Bishop Ferguson in 
1885, before his consecration. When he came again, in 1913, the 
black clergyman who was with him sat very proudly in the larger 
chair — which we have been told is a King’s seat — and said, “In 
my country no woman would be allowed to sit in this chair.” 

The square of gold and blue embroidery (hanging on the wall) is 
the gift of the Christian women of Wusih to the Auxiliary, the text 
being, ““ How shall they hear without a preacher,” etc. 


LOOKING BACK —1. REMINISCENCES 63 


The red and gold scrolls are from St. Mary’s Hall, Shanghai, with 
greetings to the Auxiliary. (Translated, it says: ‘‘ Respectfully pre- 
sented to the Woman’s Auxiliary of the United States by the pupils 
of St. Mary’s Hall, Shanghai. 


“The Holy Doctrine continually abides 
May it spread over all the earth. 
The gracious light is glorious 
To illuminate all mankind.’’) 


The Japanese scrolls were brought over from Osaka many years 
ago by Miss Mailes (one of our missionaries), from whom they were 
bought. They represent the gods of the elements — rain, wind, 
snow, etc. 

The water-colour sketches of stork, wistaria, etc., were presented 
by pupils and teachers of St. Margaret’s School, Tokyo. 

The coloured rice-paper pictures came from Ichang, 1,000 miles 
up the Yang-tse, and were given by Bishop Huntington’s aunt when 
she lived with him there (described on the back). 

The alms-box in the hall came from the California Branch, a 
memorial to the first deaconess of that diocese. 

The chimes Dr. Langford bought at Liberty’s, London, on the 
occasion of a visit in England. 

The Rev. Dr. Brown, a former rector of St. Thomas’ Church, 
New York, gave the dorsal in the Chapel. 

The Altar is the Auxiliary’s memorial to Dr. Langford. 

The Altar linen and vessels, the alms-basins, stoles, bookmarks, 
stall, lectern, credence, were all gifts of members, or branches, or of 
the united Auxiliary. 

The Spirit of Missions of 1894, pp. 64, 65, contains a note of 
some of these things. 


In further reference to the Altar in the Chapel, 1t was 
very shortly after the sudden death of the Rev. Dr. 
Langford, in July, 1897, that one of the officers of the 
New York Branch was visiting in Twilight Park, in the 
Catskill Mountains, almost under the very shadow of the 
little cottage where the death occurred. It may be interest- 
ing to note, by the way, that this cottage was built and 
occupied, when Twilight Park was an artists’ settlement, 


64 JULIA CHESTER EMERY 


by the late Walter Satterlee, the artist, and at this time 
was owned by his cousin, Bishop Satterlee, the first 
Bishop of Washington. 

It was in this atmosphere, almost, as I say, under the 
very shadow of this little cottage, and filled with the 
memory of Dr. Langford’s personality and self-sacrifice, 
that this Auxiliary officer sent a letter to Miss Emery 
suggesting as an appropriate memorial to Dr. Langford 
that the Woman’s Auxiliary give the Altar for the Chapel 
in the Church Missions House. 

At once Miss Emery accepted her suggestion, and 
asked her to write a letter, to be sent out to all the diocesan 
branches, soliciting gifts for this purpose. Within a short 
while a sum of $300 was in hand, and the beautifully 
carved Altar in the Chapel stands today as the Auxiliary’s 
memorial to the Rev. Dr. William S. Langford, whose 
monument is the Church Missions House itself. On the 
side of the Altar to the right is found a brass plate bearing 
this inscription: 


TO THE GLORY OF GOD 
AND IN LOVING GRATITUDE FOR THE LIFE AND SERVICE OF 
WILLIAM SPEAIGHT LANGFORD, PRIEST 
GENERAL SECRETARY OF THE BOARD OF MISSIONS 
A. D. 1885-1897 
HIS FELLOW WORKERS IN THE WOMAN’S AUXILIARY 
PLACE THIS ALTAR 
IN. THE CHAPEL WHERE “ HE EXECUTED THE PRIEST’S OFFICE 
BEFORE GOD ” 


“HOW LONG, O LORD, HOLY AND TRUE” 


While recording what the Auxiliary did for itself in 
this direction, we would like also to mention what it did 
towards furnishing the new rooms of its sister society, in 


LOOKING BACK —1. REMINISCENCES 65 


London, the Woman’s Missionary Association of the 
Society for the Propagation of the Gospel. In Miss 
Emery’s diary, during one of her visits to London, we 


find: 


The rooms where the officers of the General Society meet are 
adorned with oak panellings, given by American Churchmen, the 
most zsthetic touch in the construction of the building, which in 
general is severely plain and utilitarian. 

In the Committee Room of the Woman’s Missionary Association 
are chairs and a clock given by Auxiliary officers of the dioceses in the 
thirteen original states. Under the clock is the following inscription: 

“This clock, together with the chairman’s chair and thirty 
others, is the gift of the Woman’s Auxiliary of the Board of Home 
and Foreign Missions of the Episcopal Church in America, who, by 
the hand of Bishop Montgomery, Secretary of the S. P. G., sent in 
1907, $300, representing $1.00 a year for the 300 years since the first 
church was built in Virginia.” 


CHaPTER VII 


Looking Back 
2. Beginnings 


E have reviewed the early days of the Woman’s 

Auxiliary. We have considered the results or 
progress made during Miss Emery’s tenure of office, and 
we know of the work as it is today, with its six general 
secretaries presiding over its various departments. Re- 
calling some of the past we may see in many cases the 
seeds were sown by the wise and guiding hand of Mrs. 
Twing or Miss Emery, whose careful watering and patient 
waiting allowed the growth and development of what 
they foresaw to a gradual fruition. 

In the Bible House there was a room behind the office 
of the Auxiliary which was called the Publication Room, 
and was used for packing. The walls from floor to ceiling 
were covered with rough pine shelves laden with “ back 
numbers” of The Spirit of Missions and The Young 
Christian Soldier, and other publications and leaflets. 
Packing boxes stood about the room to be packed or 
unpacked, as the case might be, and, in fact, all seemed 
in general confusion. It certainly was dusty. It was 
amidst these surroundings that the first missionary boxes 
were packed. Packages of clothing of all kinds, and 
other articles, were sent by the parishes and individuals 
interested to the Auxiliary Rooms to be forwarded to the 
missionaries for personal use or distribution in their 
mission stations. One or two faithful, self-sacrificing 

66 


LOOKING BACK —2. BEGINNINGS 67 


women of New York devoted one or two days a week to 
sorting, valuing, and packing these into large cases to be 
dispatched to the South or West. Out of this simple 
beginning grew the systematized, orderly, and much- 
appreciated box work which was carried on so many 
years by Miss Margaret T. Emery, and is now thoroughly 
organized along Red Cross lines and known as the Supply 
Department. 

One of the original objects for which the Auxiliary 
held itself responsible, these missionary boxes proved 
themselves of inestimable value, not only because they 
provided necessities for the missionaries’ families, who in 
the early days were living on the frontier, and beyond 
the pale of “‘ department stores,” even had their meagre 
stipends allowed of their purchasing such as they needed, 
but because of the encouragement, refreshment, and sym- 
pathy they received through the so-called “ personal 
touch.” The pathetic little story related by Bishop 
Frederick F. Johnson, then Bishop Coadjutor of South 
Dakota, in a letter written to and for Miss Emery’s 
“Book of Appreciation,” witnesses to this. The story, 
as Bishop Johnson tells it, is as follows: 


One day during those rare years when it was my privilege to be 
a Bishop Assistant to the sainted Bishop Hare, I came to a mission- 
ary’s home in the South Dakota Indian Field, hidden out of sight in a 
far-away corner of the prairie. The home was quite bare of adorn- 
ment. The good missionary and his good wife spent so much for 
others, only a little was left, out of which they bought just the 
necessaries for themselves. 

When I arrived I found the missionary’s wife sitting beside a 
missionary box which she had just unpacked, crying. ‘‘ What is it 
that troubles you?” was the question I asked of the dear woman, as 
I tried to pour in oil and wine. “‘This,” she replied, as she showed me 
a delicate piece of embroidery. “‘This perfectly beautiful thing! Not 
necessary, but beautiful! And it was in this missionary box for me!” 


68 JULIA CHESTER EMERY 


Of course, missionary boxes have almost always carried certain 
serviceable things into missionary homes. But the Emery sisters in 
the Woman’s Auxiliary, so it seemed to me, lifted the “ box work ”’ 
up into a means of carrying blessed beauty into many a humdrum 
home. I know that in many a bare and lonely missionary dwelling 
joy and cheer have often come because of some beautiful something, 
“‘ not serviceable,” tucked tidily away into the midst of the necessary 
things which all missionary boxes are supposed to carry. Yes, it is 
true, as Victor Hugo makes the old bishop say to his housekeeper, 
“ The beautiful things of life are quite as useful as the useful things; 
and,” he added, after a slight pause, “I sometimes think, more useful.” 


While the Auxiliary thus cared for the bodily com- 
forts of the missionaries and their families, Miss Emery 
became impressed with the necessity of feeding their 
minds. Herself an insatiable reader, she realized how 
starved must be the isolated missionary for books on 
theology, the spiritual life, current topics, or even fiction. 
Asking any interested visitors for what they were willing 
to part with from their libraries, or would contribute in 
the way of recent publications, she soon filled the shelves 
of the small — very small — bookcase standing in the 
Room. The missionaries were informed through the 
sending of a list of books to be loaned, and were en- 
couraged to state their preferences. The books were then 
sent back and forth by mail to any required distance. 
Thus began, in 1879, what was called the Lending Library 
for Missionaries. Shall we say that this very small 
venture was the forerunner of the Church Periodical Club, 
and possibly suggested the greater ideal to its founder? 

Later, books on missionary subjects, biographies of 
missionaries, and kindred interests were added to the 
library at the Auxiliary Rooms, which were borrowed 
and read by members of the Auxiliary and others, who 
thus were stimulated to the study of Missions. Definite 
missionary instruction was begun, however, in 1874, when 


LOOKING BACK —2. BEGINNINGS 69 


the Auxiliary’s Foreign Committee of New York issued 
catechisms on China and Japan and Africa. In 1886 
Indiana and Missouri officers introduced mission study 
into their Auxiliary Branches, and in 1891 members of 
the Connecticut Branches founded the Church Missions 
Publishing Company. Although in 1886 the Auxiliary 
established a Domestic Missionary Lending Library, and 
the following year a Foreign Missionary Lending Library, 
and the third year suggested a systematic Daily Half- 
Hour Missionary Reading and Mission Study, it was not 
until 1900 that the Church Missions House established a 
really satisfactory Missionary Library for Study Classes. 

The earliest Mission Study Classes I can remember 
were in New York, led by a few of the Auxiliary officers, 
who invited all women interested to come together one 
day of each week in Lent for a short period to study and 
to discuss the subject of Missions. Some one field, as 
Africa or Haiti, was chosen each year, and the members 
wrote papers to be read at a meeting of the class, followed 
by a discussion. ‘Topics were distributed among the 
members. The geography, history, climate, the people 
and their customs, the history of the mission and the 
work carried on by the Church’s missionaries in that 
country, past and present, were studied, always with a 
view toward increasing their knowledge and deepening 
their interest. They made their own maps and had no 
text-books, but resorted to encyclopaedia, biographies, 
The Spirit of Missions, etc. A few of the women thus 
aroused were encouraged to organize and lead similar 
classes in their own parishes. 

The study of the Bible in its relation to missions was 
also instituted during the Lenten seasons. Doubtless all 
of these were introduced into many diocesan branches, 
and thus gradually evolved the system of Mission Study, 


70 JULIA CHESTER EMERY 


with its valuable text-books, its normal classes, its summer 
conferences, and its trained leaders of today. 

Theidea of the United Thank-Offering, though not ema- 
nating directly from Miss Emery, but from Mrs. Richard 
H. Soule, an officer at that time of the Diocese of Pitts- 
burgh, was nevertheless a welcome suggestion, and was 
accepted by her as the ideal of what the Auxiliary stands 
for, a united effort for a common cause in the Church of 
God. Doubtless seeing the vision from the first, by her 
it was fostered, and through her energies and interest it 
grew to the proportions it has now reached. 

The objective or destination of this ever-increasing 
amount of money, varying according to the vote at each 
Triennial Meeting of the diocesan officers, has come at 
last to be devoted, with the exception of a few thousands 
for special buildings as a memorial to mark each Triennial 
Offering, to the training, sending, support, and care, 
when disabled, of the women workers in the field. But it 
was ten years before the first United Thank-Offering that 
Miss Emery, writing, in 1879, on the support of women 
missionaries, says: 

It is earnestly desired by the Auxiliary that this work (support 
of women missionaries), which seems of all most fitting to it, may in 
time be assumed by it entirely. 

Mrs. Twing, as Honorary Secretary, which title was 
conferred upon her in 1883, was more especially interested . 
in arousing a desire for training schools for women mis- 
sionaries, which she endeavoured to do through her tri- 
ennial reports to the Board of Missions and the publica- 
tion she issued, called Church Work, which magazine 
treated of women’s work in the Church, deaconesses, 
missionaries, and lay workers, etc., and their need for 
special training. Miss Emery was with her, however, 
heart and soul,in this movement, and the Woman’s 


LOOKING BACK —2. BEGINNINGS 71 


Auxiliary asked as early as in 1889 for a training house 
for women workers. Three years previous to this, Cali- 
fornia had suggested establishing a training school in 
San Francisco’s Chinese quarter, as supplying the oppor- 
tunities for the study of the language, customs, and 
peculiarities of a foreign people. 

Though homes and schools for the training of deacon- 
esses have been established in several of the dioceses, and 
from these well-trained workers have gone and are con- 
tinuously going to the mission field, it was not until the 
Auxiliary gathered for its Triennial Meeting at Portland, 
in 1922, twenty-one years after Mrs. Twing’s, and ten 
months after Miss Emery’s, passing away, that definite 
action was taken providing for a training school for 
women missionaries. In the near future it is hoped that 
a home for this school will be opened in New York, and 
another for coloured students in some one of the Southern 
States. 

The Corporate Communions, the Days of Interces- 
sion, and the Quiet Days, begun as early as 1882, and 
held since in never-ceasing succession in parishes, dio- 
ceses, and for the Auxiliary as a whole, owed much to the 
influence of Miss Emery’s own deeply religious life, which 
influence is still felt, though unconsciously, to be working 
in and through the great mass of Churchwomen today. It 
was doubtless she who suggested and arranged for the 
Days or Weeks of Prayer and Self-Denial kept on special 
occasions, such as in 1895, as a preparation for the 
approaching triennial gathering, and in 1915,in the time 
of a special emergency of the Board. How natural, there- 
fore, that when she learned of the Pilgrimage of Prayer 
carried on throughout England in the first years of the 
World War, she should plan a similar Pilgrimage in our 
own country. 


CuHaPTeR VIII 


Home and Parish Life 


O lift the veil behind which is hidden the home life 

of such an one as Julia Chester Emery is indeed a 
delicate undertaking, and one which possibly no one but 
a member of her immediate family should dare to attempt. 
The most reticent of an extremely reticent family, it was 
difficult to know how she felt or of what she was thinking. 
To know her at work was not at all to have known her in 
the home, and to one knowing her in the home only it was 
not possible to imagine her in the office. One of her 
younger sisters, seeing her there for the first time, and 
among those with whom she was thrown in the daily 
round of duty, remarked that she could “ scarcely believe 
it to be the little sister Julia”’ she herself had as yet 
known only in the home. Everyone loved her, but no one 
really knew her. 

Taking up her duties in New York at the age of 
twenty-two years, she was after that at home in Dor- 
chester for short periods only, usually for one week during 
the Christmas holidays and for a month’s vacation in 
summer, yet no one could have had a deeper devotion 
for the family ties than she. In the home she thought 
only of how she could help and wait on others; in times 
of sorrow and trouble, which inevitably came frequently 
to so large a family, she would devote herself to com- 
forting others, apparently entirely forgetting the sorrow 
was also her own. Her knowledge of the practical house- 

72 


HOME AND PARISH LIFE 73 


hold duties was but small compared with her work in 
other directions, yet she delighted in assisting where she 
could, though lack of knowledge robbed her of self- 
confidence and made her timid in attempting much 
beyond the simplest duties. Neither was she an adept at 
sewing, and it was not until she was asked jokingly one 
day how she expected to use her time when she grew older 
if she could not knit — or possibly was it from a desire 
to do her bit during the War? — that she learned to knit 
the simple stitches. No, her attainments were more of a 
literary nature, for she would read aloud by the hour 
while others sewed or knit, and she was particularly good 
at all literary games, and wrote acrostics and numerous 
verses, both nonsense rhymes and those of a more serious 
character. 

The following short example of her work was written 
for one who was at the time facing a sore trial: 


THE SIN AND SoRROW OF ALL THE WoRLD 


The sorrow and the sin of all the world 

Against a Form and Face Divine were hurled. 

They bowed that Form, and marred the perfect Face 
Which was the joy of Heaven’s highest place. 


O Child, if thy face ever shall have worn 

Such lines as that Divinest Face hath borne, 
By suffering marred, by sin and sorrow tried, 
Wait, sleep in hope, thou shalt wake, satisfied. 


Isaiah LII, 14; Psalm XVII, 15. 
And another, written during the World War, 1918: 


UNDER SEAS 
In the Eternal Infinite, 
Where float the balls of Time and Space, 
What chance the high and righteous God 


Shall ever scan my darling’s face? 


74 JULIA CHESTER EMERY 


He’s only a boy, though a brave one, 
And maybe he’ll fail and fall; 
But he never waited a moment 


When he heard his Country call. 


My righteous God is a Father, 
And ’twas in Time He sent His Son, 
And in Space He saw Him suffer 
That so might His will be done. 
And so I believe without doubting 
My son He is sure to know, 
Whom the sun and the moon seek vainly 
In the secret seas below. 


Being an insatiable and exceedingly rapid reader she 
managed to accomplish a considerable amount. As a 
young girl she was very fond of the stories of Charlotte 
_M. Yonge, and often spoke of the “ Daisy Chain” as a 
favorite. I believe she read it many times. She joined 
a reading circle called the “St. Andrew’s Half-hour 
Reading Club,” of which she was a member for many 
years. The requirements of this club were to read for at 
least one-half hour each day a portion of some serious and 
instructive book. When she went out of town to live, 
and became a commuter, she daily carried some such 
volume with her and made her half-hour while on the 
train, either going or coming. The lists of such reading, 
being kept, were submitted to the chosen judges, who 
more than once awarded to her the prize for the best 
and most comprehensive list. 

With the exception of one occasion in England in 
1908, when she saw the Winchester Historic Pageant, and 
another time a pageant in Baltimore, she had never 
attended a theatre until about two years before her 
death. She then saw Drinkwater’s representation of 
“Abraham Lincoln.” That she went then one might 


HOME AND PARISH LIFE 75 


almost say was by pure accident. One of the two sisters 
intending to use the tickets was at the last moment 
indisposed, and Julia was, to every one’s astonishment, 
persuaded to take her place. Her eagerness and excite- 
ment over the event were almost painful to see. She 
found the play most absorbing, having but recently read 
the “ Life of Lincoln”? by Drinkwater. Until this she 
had always studiously declined attending any theatrical 
performance, though she gave no reason for so doing. 
This one occasion on which she witnessed a real play 
occurring three or four years after her resignation as 
Secretary of the Wcman’s Auxiliary bears testimony to 
the possibility of the correctness of my surmise, that she 
felt ““ Caesar’s wife should be above suspicion,” or, in 
other words, that the Secretary of the Woman’s Auxiliary 
should give no ground for criticism. I knew she could 
not entirely disapprove of the modern drama, for she not 
infrequently herself bought tickets for others to use. 

Possibly this same conscientious scruple forbade her 
playing cards except in her own home, where we together 
not infrequently enjoyed a good game of whist or auction 
bridge. She was a very rapid and keen player, and I 
believe thoroughly enjoyed a game. 

Living as she did, with two of her sisters, in boarding- 
houses for some sixteen or seventeen years, she must 
have hailed with delight the move her mother made when, 
after her husband’s death, she came, in 1891, with her 
younger daughters, to an apartment in New York, and 
made a home for the three who were already residing 
there. After occupying several in various parts of the 
city, they finally settled in East 24th Street, conveniently 
near to the Missions House, and where many missionaries 
and others always found a welcome, and shared with the 
Emery family the joys of their happy home. It was 


76 JULIA CHESTER EMERY 


Julia’s great delight always to invite her friends and those 
of the Auxiliary, especially the stranger in New York, to 
meet her mother and to enjoy a cup of tea. 

It was here that Mrs. Emery died in 1901, and it was 
Mrs. Twing’s home when she was taken, while attending 
General Convention and the Triennial Meeting of the 
Auxiliary in San Francisco, in the Autumn of that same 
year. 

Nine years later the three sisters built an attractive 
cottage at Scarsdale, New York, within commuting 
distance of the city, and here they lived and entertained 
their hosts of friends as of yore. The most sociably in- 
clined of all sociable people, I really believe one of the 
minor trials of Julia’s last years was her inability to 
exercise her usual hospitality, the distance they now lived 
from the Church Missions House rendering it impossible 
for their missionary friends to run in informally for 
luncheon or tea as when they lived in 24th Street. 

Never can I forget the little hurried visits she so 
frequently made us in the early morning on her way to 
the office, or as she snatched a few moments before catch- 
ing the train when her work was done. Never a Christmas 
Eve but found her ringing our doorbell, she, herself, some- 
times covered with snowflakes, which she seemed to enjoy, 
and carrying on her arm a small basket, carefully covered 
with white tissue paper and tied with the proverbial red 
ribbons and a bunch of holly, from which she lovingly 
drew some little gift. Such a beaming smile as she wore! 
It was as though she had surely seen the vision of the 
Christ-child and had come to bring to us His Joy and 
Light. 

Her office work, which, because of the conscientious- 
ness with which she faced her responsibilities, would be 
to many another overtaxing, she could at any time put 





MUO MAN SFIVASUVIS LV FOVLLOY) 





HOME AND PARISH LIFE 77 


aside to visit a missionary, sick or lonely, or any friend or 
worker to whom she might bring a word of cheer. Not 
one woman missionary was forgotten by her at Christmas 
or at Eastertide. She would spend hours sorting and 
selecting the card most appropriate to the needs of each, 
and laboriously endeavour to catch the mail both for the 
foreign and the domestic fields which would carry her 
message nearest to the date desired. 

How many might say, as did the recipient of the letter 
from which I quote below, that Miss Emery was the 
only one who sent her a letter of sympathy in some time 
of trial. And this is the hopeful kind of comfort and sym- 
pathy she gave, and in the last year of her life: 


I saw the death of your aunt in Africa, the other day. My last 
aunt, my mother’s youngest sister, has just gone, too. She was 
ninety. Don’t you think when these old people go, they must be so 
glad and thankful? It pushes us along a little on our way. But as 
one takes the forward step doesn’t the real life open out before one, 
more and more, with such boundless and beautiful possibilities? 


If it be true that a person is known by the books he 
reads, then we have a glimpse of Miss Emery in the fol- 
lowing from the same letter, showing even up to the last 
how active was her mind. She says: | 


Are you and your sister reading Wells together or separately? 
We did the latter, also Beveridge’s “‘ John Marshall,” which is fine. 
Aloud we have had Strachey’s “‘ Queen Victoria,” ‘‘ Mirrors of 
Downing Street,” Bishop’s “‘ Roosevelt,” “‘ Edward Bok,” “ Joseph 
H. Choate,” this last rather disappointing. Have you seen Vida 
Scudder’s “‘ Social Teachings of the Christian Year”? Her style 
never appeals to me. It seems too complex and laboured. 

For light reading I am indulging in the Waverley Novels, and 
have reached “‘ Ivanhoe.”’ Some of Oppenheim’s stories are bright 
and entertaining. I don’t like the ‘“‘ Dust,” “ Main Street,” and 
“ Captives ” kind. 


78 JULIA CHESTER EMERY 


This amount of reading, added to the writing she also 
did, must have made a busy life for one confined to her 
couch. 

What Bishop Lawrence, of Massachusetts, said of the 
sainted Bishop Tuttle, in his memorial sermon in Christ 
Church Cathedral, in St. Louis, may with equal truth 
and fitness also be said of her: 


And as his organization became larger and his field of influence 
wider, he never lost the personal touch. The youngest bishop, the 
latest bride, the friend in joy or sorrow, was sure of a loving letter 
in his own hand. 


Surely she was one of the “ decent bodies’ of whom 
Lord FredericHamilton writes, that are, in his experience, 
Vin) va’ great (majority). :.). . They «may snot bag cane 
spicuously to the fore, for the ‘decent bodies’ are not 
given to self-advertisement. They have no love for the 
limelight, and would be distinctly annoyed should their 
advent be heralded with a flourish of trumpets. In the 
garden-borders the mignonette is a very inconspicuous 
little plant. ... These ‘decent bodies’ are not the 
exclusive product of one country, of one class, or of one 
sex. They are to be found ‘ Here, There, and Every- 
where.’ ”’ 


Miss Emery’s Church life and home life were so inter- 
mingled it would be impossible, even could one wish it, 
to separate them. St. Mary’s Church, Dorchester, 
Massachusetts, was her parish home until she took up 
her permanent residence in New York. On assuming 
work in this city she connected herself with the Church 
of the Holy Communion, as Mrs. Twing had already done. 

Later, she and her sister, Margaret T. Emery, at- 
tended Calvary Chapel, when the Rev. Floyd W. Tom- 


HOME AND PARISH LIFE 79 


kins was vicar, and who was succeeded in time by Miss 
Emery’s younger brother, the Rev. W. Stanley Emery. 
It was about this time that her mother and sisters settled 
in New York, and all the family, therefore, became 
members of that parish, and there remained until Mr. 
Emery’s removal to Norwich, Connecticut, and later to 
St. Paul’s, Concord, New Hampshire. After this the 
family attended the Church of the Incarnation so long 
as they remained in the city. 

Wherever her parish she was always, except when on 
a missionary trip, to be found in her place on Sunday 
and at the early Celebrations. She could always find 
time amongst her multifarious duties for the Saints’ 
Day Services at Calvary Church, which was next door 
to her office at the Missions House, and received inspira- 
tion and strength from these Services for renewed vigor. 

We would scarcely expect one whose entire week was 
given to the Church’s work to devote any portion of the 
Sundays to parish duties, and yet for years she taught a 
class in the Sunday-school. Except when her Auxiliary 
journeys of necessity caused her absence from New York, 
she was regularly and punctually on duty each Sunday 
morning. It is difficult to conceive of her, knowing of her 
continuous and confining office work, as spending her 
Sundays after this programme, which we find in her diary 
not once, but every week the same. 
1888, Fanuary 15th, Sunday. 

A. M.—9, Early Celebration at Grace Church; 10.45, Calvary 


Chapel. P. M.—2.45, G. F. S. Sunday-school; 7.30, Calvary 
Chapel, Evening Prayer. Company to tea. 


Yet such was her life. 
Her interest in the little home parish in Scarsdale is" 


best told by her rector in his parish paper of January, 
1922 


80 JULIA CHESTER EMERY 


To our parish she was an inspiration and help. It is not too much 
to say that every individual and every event in the parish was of 
interest to her. On the day before Confirmation she asked to be told 
the name of each one who was to be confirmed, and her prayers and 
thoughts followed that Service, as they did every Service in the 
parish Church. Two days later all was over, and she had peacefully 
and joyfully gone to her Heavenly Father. 

To her rector, Miss Emery was more than he can put into words. 
Coming from the Missionary District of Wyoming, he found at once 
in her one who was a friend to all in the Mission field. Her advice, 
inspiration, and friendship made lovely the days in the new parish. 
And during the last days, a quiet visit to her bedside was a bene- 
diction to him, and the smile and light in her eyes made faith very 
real. 


Anyone reading this chapter may be inclined to 
criticize the author as giving only the serious side of 
Miss Emery’s character. There was no other side. 
Though full of the joy and happiness of life, I never saw 
her frivolous, never humorous. Her every word was full 
of serious import, her every act was prompted as by 
some purposeful intent. | 

She had her faults, as who has not, but as I think of 
them now they are too small to be worth mentioning. 
Many years ago, on one occasion I was both surprised 
and pleased to discover she was not a little proud of her 
small feet — surprised, because I believed her void of all 
vanity, and pleased, for it proved that she was really 
human after all. 

I always thought her to have had naturally rather a 
hasty temper, but this she had under wonderful control, 
and kept it so, largely, by avoiding all discussion. She 
disliked controversy above everything, and_ neither 
listened to nor read any such when possible to avoid it. 
Whenever any discussion at a meeting showed signs of 
becoming at all heated, the colour in her face would 





AWOP AHL NI SYALSI$ FAUMH] 





HOME AND PARISH LIFE 81 


mount to the roots of her hair, and she would at once 
tactfully turn the attention to another side of the subject. 
She had the strongest possible convictions, but never 
forced them upon others except in the gentlest, most 
persuasive terms. 

Gentle and modest to a degree, yet strong and brave 
where duty called. 


CHAPTER IX 


Labour of Love 


F any one part of Miss Emery’s work could above 

another be called a “ labour of love,” it surely might 
be her planning and conduct of the Pilgrimage of Prayer. 

Quoting again from Miss Lindley’s first report of 
oie 


Nothing could be more beautiful than the last official act of 
MissEmery—the plan for the year of the Pilgrimage of Prayer and 
her guidance of that Pilgrimage. Perhaps she foresaw all that it has 
been to the Auxiliary, but for most of the members it has meant 
more than any dared hope, and they are grateful to her and to God, 
who put it in her heart to suggest. 


At the closing of the year of 1916, and the beginning 
of the Christian year, the First Sunday in Advent, 
December 3rd, the Pilgrimage began. In The Spirit of 
Missions Miss Emery gives the detailed plan and method 
in the following: 


This name (“ Pilgrimage of Prayer’) we have taken from our 
English friends, the plan for our Pilgrimage is our own — with them 
it means the proceeding of persons from place to place, making inter- 
cession as they go; with us it signifies the same petitions arising in 
place after place, until in the whole course of our Christian Year 
intercession shall have been made from every portion of the Church. 

For this year we hope to make a new beginning, to pray with 
better understanding of what prayer is, with a firmer belief in its 
power; we plan that our course of study shall take Prayer for its 
subject, and we want to make of the year a Pilgrimage that shall 
fasten our hope and wish on the mind of all. 


82 


LABOUR OF LOVE 83 


There are such large things to pray for: 


The Unity of Christ’s Church; 

The binding together of the hearts of His people in the bonds of 
love; 

_ The spread of His Kingdom through all the world; 

That peace may prevail among the nations, among the divided 
members of Christ’s Body; 

That organizations formed for good may work in loving harmony 
together for the one great aim of making Christ’s Name and Love 
the better known; 

That our enterprises of study and gifts and prayer may be blest 
through the outpouring of the Spirit upon our souls; 

That our fellow-Christians, unreached as yet, may be won to 
pray and learn and give. 


It is to this end we are calling to our Pilgrimage of Prayer. It is 
a call from the triennial gathering of the Woman’s Auxiliary to the 
Board of Missions, to all members of the Woman’s Auxiliary. Should 
others, men or women, be moved to join in it, we would be thankful 


indeed. 


THe METHOD 


Beginning with the first Sunday in Advent, December 3, 1916, 
month by month, each week will be assigned to the Auxiliary in one 
or more specified dioceses, with the request that on the Sunday 
assigned all members of the Auxiliary, who can do so, make their 
Communion with the intention noted in the intercessions which this 
paper sets forth, that, individually, they repeat these intercessions 
daily throughout the week, and that, on one day in the course of 
that week, each parish branch in the diocese or dioceses hold a 
special meeting for the one purpose of making this intercession. 

The list of dioceses and assigned weeks is here given, and the 
diocesan and parochial officers of the Auxiliary in each diocese are 
asked to lay this plan before the Bishop and parish clergy and to 
ask their prayers and help. 

On the closing Sunday of the year —the Sunday next before 
Advent, November 25, 1917 — all members of the Woman’s Auxiliary 
throughout the Church, widely separated yet one in heart and will, 
are asked to make their Communion together and offer unitedly 
these intercessions of our Pilgrimage of Prayer. 


84 JULIA CHESTER EMERY 


Beginning with Province I, the New England States, 
each diocese, or group of dioceses, was assigned one week 
for its Services of Prayer, every diocese in the eight 
Provinces being included within the Christian Year, 
Province VIII ending October 14th with Alaska, Hono- 
lulu, and the Philippine Islands. This leaving five Sun- 
days and weeks for the Extra Provincial districts, Tokyo, 
Kyoto; Shanghai, Anking, and Hankow; European 
Churches, Liberia, and Southern Brazil; Haiti and 
Cuba; Panama Canal Zone and Mexico. 

The last Sunday, the Sunday next before Advent, No-. 
vember 25, 1917, for the Auxiliary throughout the Church. 

The editorial in The Spirit of Missions for November, 
1916, was fully justified in saying: 


The things which have marked this Convention (St. Louis, 1916) 
in the Auxiliary are its spirit of prayer, the seriousness of its study, 
and its joy in giving. 


Of the results of such work we are not concerned, for 
there can be no earthly record, and the prayers of the 
Auxiliary, rising in continuous succession throughout the 
year to the Throne of Grace, are noted in heaven, and 
our Eternal Father alone knows what those prayers meant 
to those who offered them, and of their benefit to the 
Church. 

That the plan was acceptable we may judge from the 
manner in which it was taken up by each province or 
diocese in turn. 

In the beginning, with the First Sunday in Advent, 
the Pilgrimage was made in Maine and New Hampshire, 
and during the second week it continued in Vermont and 
Western Massachusetts. The Bishops of Maine and 
New Hampshire both commended the plan in their 
diocesan papers, the former describing it as “a very 


LABOUR OF LOVE 85 


simple plan, requiring merely a willing heart, a generous 
vision, and a hearty faith.” The latter issued a special 
prayer for the Auxiliary. In New Hampshire the Bishop 
called on “the clergy of the diocese, the women not 
already active in the Auxiliary, the men and children 
also, to share in our praying year.” The Bishop of 
Western Massachusetts held a retreat for the diocesan 
officers of the Woman’s Auxiliary and the heads of 
kindred societies. 

Writes the Dean of the Cathedral in Maine to his 
people: “‘ Maine begins in the East; week after week 
this current of prayer will energize diocese after diocese 
until it has throbbed its course through the whole Church.” 

And thus, through every diocese and missionary 
district in the Union, until we come to the Province of 
the Pacific. 

From Alaska, our oldest and most faithful of mis- 
sionaries, Dr. Chapman, writes: “I do not think you 
could have done us a greater service than to ask us to 
join in the concert of prayer that has been planned.” 

In this Eighth Province, Arizona had the first week, 
which found Arizona still in the grip of summer heat, 
‘“ when everything around the Church, as does everything 
social and educational, dies’; when “those who can 
afford it and those who can scrape together any money 
at all, go away, and those who stay at home leave their 
houses during the daytime only when it is absolutely 
necessary, and everyone who possibly can spends the 
afternoon in bed.’’ Notwithstanding,in Tucson, “‘on the day 
of continuous intercession, there was not a moment when 
the church was left without some one kneeling in prayer.”’ 

The Auxiliary president of Los Angeles writes that 
“ for a week we have been a diocese on our knees, and the 
precedent is established.” 


86 JULIA CHESTER EMERY 


California adopted a plan differing from that of any ° 
other diocese, keeping a week of preparation as well as 
a full observance of that of prayer—each day of the week 
being given to the intercessions of special organizations, 
and of men and children also. The Bishop of San Joaquin 
says: “‘Our beautiful Week of Prayer has ended, and oh, 
how much stronger we feel! ”’ 

Miss Emery writes: ““We are accustomed to look to 
Honolulu for an example of single-hearted devotion and — 
unflagging zeal. It was a sweet thought to give it that 
special feature which no other diocese could present, to 
have the days of its week given to island after island, 
and the prayers arise from Oahu, Mani, Kanai, and 
Hawaii in turn.”’ 

Miss Lindley speaks, in her Report for 1916-1917, of 
the planning of the Pilgrimage of Prayer as Miss Emery’s 
“last official act,” but this by no means meant that with 
her resignation, which took effect in December, 1916, 
when she handed over to her successor the duties and 
responsibilities as Secretary, that her work for the Church 
was ended. Freedom from office work, the fatigues of 
travel, and responsibilities which a year or so later she 
was no longer able to endure, gave her leisure to continue 
as she was asked and as she herself hoped, “ to edit the 
Auxiliary pages of The Spirit of Missions”; to forward 
the conduct of the Pilgrimage of Prayer; to be ready to 
welcome missionary and Auxiliary visitors; make oc- 
casional visits as desired, and in every way possible, in 
accordance with the wishes of the President of the Board 
and General Secretary of the Auxiliary, to render any 
service within her power. 

A little later she was asked to gather notes for an 
official history of the Domestic and Foreign Missionary 
Society. This she set about with an absorbing interest. 


LABOUR OF LOVE 87 


When, after long labours of research, she had gathered 
a considerable number of facts, she almost unconsciously, 
so she said, began to compile and write the consecutive 
statement. Having finished the first several chapters and 
submitted them to the President of the Board, who highly 
approved, she was asked to continue and complete the 
whole volume. Thus she came to be the author of 
the official history of the first one hundred years of 
the Domestic and Foreign Missionary Society, which she 
called “A Century of Endeavor,’ “rather,” as she 
said, “than of ‘Achievement,’ because, seeing so much 
remaining to be accomplished, and feeling the new or- 
ganization under whose leadership the new century has 
opened to be but the forerunner of an ideal still before us,”’ 
and “believing this is not a time to rest upon anything 
which has gone before, but rather one in which to take 
each past experience as a starting-point for future effort 
and help, with which to meet the problems and duties 
of the years to come.” 

To see her in the little room on the upper floor of the 
Church Missions House, surrounded by the familiar 
fittings of the old headquarters, 21 Bible House, and talk 
with her about the book she was writing, was to realize 
with what joy and zeal she was still labouring in mis- 
sionary interests. Gradually her health began to fail, 
but her work went on even after she was confined to her 
couch, and she saw it completed and published, the first 
edition on the eve of the Centennial Celebration, on 
November 6, 1921. 

Of this valuable contribution to the Church, Miss 
Emery’s last and crowning work, I do not feel competent 
to speak as reviewing the book, but know it is one which 
no parish library nor branch of the Woman’s Auxiliary 
can afford to omit from its shelves. It stores a fund of 


88 JULIA CHESTER EMERY 


information which may be found nowhere else in so con- 
venient a form. She has traced every step of the Church’s 
realization of Her Mission, and has brought together and 
placed in their proper relation a multitude of details. 
It is a book of over four hundred pages, with a wealth of 
statistical information and a satisfactory index. It is 
not too much to say that anyone who owns a copy of this 
book will have then means at hand to answer any ques- 
tions which may arise as to the missionary work of the 
Church for the past one hundred years. ) 

In other words, Miss Emery did for us the work of 
research which must have been ours should we wish, as 
we should, to learn the history of our Missionary Society. 

Bishop Lloyd, in writing the Foreword, which is here 
quoted in its entirety, says: 


The Church in America will not be slow to recognize its increased 
debt to Miss Emery for having added to her labours through long 
years of joyful service this bit of painstaking research. 

This would be manifest if she had done nothing more than make 
available the story told by the Church’s records of the efforts made 
through the years to find a way by which the Church might do 
something for those who need spiritual help. 

But our debt to her is very much increased because she has not 
yielded to the temptation to tell again the story of the great things 
which have been accomplished in spite of the blindness and unbelief 
of the people of our Lord Christ; but has held herself to the task of 
letting the records show the steady if slowly increasing consciousness 
of the Church as it has come to recognize itself as the Body of Christ, 
through which He will complete the purposes of His Incarnation. 

Most interesting is the story which the growth of the Board of 
Missions tells all unwittingly of the spiritual growth of the Body of 
Christ. At first, driven solely by the vague conviction that the 
Gospel must be preached, pushed into doing even so little by the zeal 
of a few who would not be gainsaid, the Church as the years passed 
(so demonstrating the faithfulness of Him who promised that they 
who do His Will shall know) came to comprehend that it had in its 


LABOUR OF LOVE 89 


keeping the Truth on which development depends. So at last, in 
Detroit, all the makeshifts to which the Church had resorted to meet 
the exigencies as they arose were swept aside, and an organization for 
work was agreed upon which makes it possible for the whole strength 
of the body to be applied to the task which alone can justify the 
Church’s existence or measure its faithfulness. One puts this book 
down with the feeling that at last the Church has made a beginning, 
and with the comfortable assurance that as our fathers were blessed 
in their groping after a way to share with others the Truth which 
makes men free, so our children will be blessed as with courage and 
understanding they labour with all those who love our Lord Jesus 
Christ with sincerity to help the nations comprehend the Revelation 
on which civilization must rest. 


The book itself, however, must be read to be ap- 
preciated. Glancing through the “ Chronological Table,” 
covering fifty pages of the Appendix, and the “ Historical 
Table,’ some thirty-nine more, one may gather some 
idea of the enormous amount of ground she must have 
gone over to obtain such information, and the accuracy 
with which she must have recorded it. 

In a letter written to her sister on learning of Miss 
Emery’s death, the Dean of Trinity Cathedral, Cleveland, 
Ohio, says: “ Her book is not her memorial, but it was a 
little monument to her honesty of statement and her 
devotion to truth.” 

It was in the summer of 1921, as she lay on her chaitse- 
longue, that with a very happy satisfaction she told how 
she had just finished the last proof-reading, and that the 
book was now ready to go to press. She was looking over 
a number of illustrations in order to determine which to 
insert, and had decided upon several as interesting and 
appropriate. [When, however, “The Century of En- 
deavor’”’ was published, no illustrations appeared.| 

Even after this her pen could not be idle. She began 
at once, following the completion of her other work, and 


90 JULIA CHESTER EMERY 


wrote comprehensive articles on the lives and work of 
both Bishop Griswold of the Eastern Diocese and Bishop 
Hobart, both of which appeared later in pamphlet form, 
published by the Church Missions Publishing Company. 


CHAPTER X 


Anniversaries 


HAT Miss Emery lived to see the Centennial of the 

Domestic and Foreign Missionary Society, and also, 
or more especially, the Jubilee of the Woman’s Auxiliary, 
was to her a signal joy. No one at that time officially 
connected with the Society had given as many con- 
secutive years of service, and no one had a clearer recol- 
lection of its earlier days. Living over the past, as she did 
in preparing her history of its first one hundred years, 
must have given her untold pleasure and an interest few 
could better appreciate. 

It was a curious and undoubtedly an unusual coinci- 
dence that the Centennial of the parent society and the 
Jubilee of its Auxiliary should occur within the same 
twelve months, the anniversary date of the one being 
November 6, 1921, and that of the other, less than a 
month previous, October 16th, happily falling upon a 
Sunday. 

Preparations for the proper celebration of these 
occasions were in the making for a year or two, or, rather, 
were under consideration immediately after the close of 
the General Convention in Detroit, 1919. 

Unlike the younger generation of today, we of a 
previous age still like to put the older one first. There- 
fore the Centennial of the Church’s Missionary Society, 
though falling upon a later date in the year, demands our 
first attention. 

91 


92 JULIA CHESTER EMERY 


A poster issued at this time explains somewhat how 
the General Convention planned the Centennial should 
be celebrated, and gives the objectives proposed by the 
Committee of Arrangements: I. The securing of one 
hundred missionaries. II. The enrollment of the first 
one hundred thousand proportionate givers by Easter, 
1922. III. The completion of the enrollment of the first 
one hundred thousand intercessors by the same date. 

The clergy and laity of the Church were asked by the 
President of the Presiding Bishop and Council to observe © 
Armistice Day, November 1ith, and Sunday, November 
13th, as days of special intercession. The November 
(1921) number of The Spirit of Missions was almost com- 
pletely filled with letters and messages of greeting from 
bishops and others from all parts of the world, including 
the C. M. S. and the S. P. G. of England and the diocese 
of Tohoku, Japan. 

We give that of the Presiding Bishop, that it may be 
linked with that of Miss Emery, which follows: 


Missouri was admitted to be a State in the Union in 1821. 

The same year brings to her, as well as to our great Missionary 
Society, a Centennial Anniversary. Then it may not be unseemly 
for a Bishop of Missouri to cry aloud, “ All hail!” and ‘“‘ Well met!” 
to the Church folk of the whole land. 

In 1821 we had but nine Bishops. Now we have one hundred and 
thirty-seven. In 1821 we had one communicant to every four 
hundred and sixteen of the population of the United States. In 1921 
we have one communicant to every ninety-nine of the population. 

Hitherto hath the Lord helped us. Thank God! Let ‘‘ Courage ”’ 
be our Watchword, and “ Forward ” our Marching Orders. 


(Signed) Danie, TUTTLE, 
Presiding Bishop. 


This veteran at headquarters recalls Mr. Hare when foreign 
secretary, and Bishop Tuttle among the young bishops, and Doctor 
Schereschewsky before he bought Jessfield and founded Saint John’s 


ANNIVERSARIES 93 


College, and Bishop Ferguson at his consecration, and Bishop Coxe 
kneeling before the Missions House Altar, offering privately, perhaps 
his own noontide prayer, “‘ Blessed Saviour, Who at this hour,” etc. 

And her message is simply the hope that the inspiration which 
she received from these and many others, our young people may find 
in the Church’s leaders now, to help them on their way until they 
become the veterans of the future. 

(Signed) Jura C. Emery. 


In Dr. John W. Wood’s thrilling article in The Spirit 
of Missions (November, 1921), where he answers the 
question “ What has the Missionary Society done in these 
one hundred years since 1821?” he closes with these 
words: 


In all these enterprises of the Church no single agency has done 
so much in the last half-century to further the Church’s Mission as 
the Woman’s Auxiliary. It has saved hundreds of parishes and 
dozens of dioceses from the deadening blight of self-centred thought, 
prayer, and work. It has introduced and popularized the missionary 
meeting, the mission study class, and the Church summer conference. 
Many missionaries have come from its ranks, and fully $14,000,000 
have been given by women through its channels, in addition to all 
that women have done as members of congregations. 

What has our “ Society ”’ done in the last one hundred years? 

It has rendered a great patriotic service by leavening our ex- 
panding national life with Christian principles. 

It has rendered a great world service by sharing in the campaign 
for international good-will. 

Behind lies a century of endeavour. The record is by no means 
unworthy, though “still the restless millions wait the Light whose 
dawning maketh all things new.”’ Ahead, by the mercy of God, is 
the century of a new chance. Shall we do our part to make it the 
century of the finished task? 


A Centennial Service was held on November 7th at 
the Church Missions House, and many services were held 
in all parts of the country and Centennial offerings made. 


94 JULIA CHESTER EMERY 


The editor of The Spirit of Missions gives us some idea 
of the effect of this celebration of the 100th Anniversary 
when he says: 


The Missionary Centennial aroused great interest and left many 
stirring memories. Thousands are today praying more intelligently 
than ever before for the gathering of mankind into the Kingdom of 
God — a Centennial monument of no mean worth though invisible 
and made of many individual parts. Numbers have actually offered 
and some have already been sent as missionaries, whose decision 
dates from their renewed interest at this time — another and a living 
monument of no mean worth. Many have contributed more sys- 
tematically than ever before to the work of the Church at home and 
abroad — still another and continued emphasis on the value and 
significance of the service for which the Missionary Society exists. 
The nine objects suggested as a minimum goal for the Offering are 
simply so many material monuments, the erection of which will mark 
in a tangible way the Missionary Centennial. They will stand as 
thank-offerings for the years of service which have gone; they will 
stand as starting-points for new and greater service in the future. God 
grant us grace to do our part in worthily marking the Centennial! 


Miss Emery’s own special contribution towards this 
Centennial Anniversary was the completion of her book. 
Her share in the Golden Jubilee of the Auxiliary was of 
course equally large. As she happily named her history 
of the one hundred years ““ A Century of Endeavor,” so 
she called her history of the Woman’s Auxiliary’s fifty 
years, “ A Half-Century of Progress.’’ This appeared in 
July, 1920, in The Spirit of Missions, and was also pub- 
lished in pamphlet form. It surely needs no comment 
beyond that to be found in the following note by the 
Committee on the Jubilee: 

This sketch of fifty years of the Auxiliary’s life has been written 
at the request of the committee by the one most conversant with this 
half-century’s work, but with her usual modesty no mention has been 


made of the gift which will bear her name and with which we hope 
to mark this anniversary for all time. The year previous to our 


ANNIVERSARIES 95 


fiftieth birthday will be devoted to a campaign of education and 
inspiration, that all Churchwomen may know more fully what the 
Auxiliary has accomplished in the past, and will culminate in a cor- 
porate Communion on October 16, 1921, held in every parish through- 
out the country, when the members of the Woman’s Auxiliary may 
dedicate themselves afresh to the service of the King — body, soul, 
and spirit —a living sacrifice to Him Who died that we might live. 
During this year a thank-offering will be gathered to be presented to 
the Presiding Bishop and Council as a trust fund, to be known as the 
“Emery Fund,” in grateful appreciation of what these three sisters 
have meant to the Auxiliary and its members during these fifty 
years. The income from this fund will be used for missionaries at 
home on furlough for board, medical care, study, or recreation. It is 
hoped that every member of the Auxiliary will have a share in this 
fund, so that it may be truly representative, and that each one will 
give as liberally as she can, so that it may be worthy of those whose 
name it bears and of the organization whose Golden Jubilee it marks. 
Let each one of us who is now a member have a share in making this 
work known to others and in contributing to this ““ Emery Fund.” 
In this way we shall not only be witnesses to Jesus Christ in this life, 
but through our money will be serving Him here on earth after we are 
called into that larger service of the life beyond. 


As the time for the celebration drew nearer Miss 
Lindley sent out this circular letter to all diocesan 
officers, accompanying one from Miss Emery: 


Woman’s AUXILIARY TO THE PRESIDING BisHoPp AND COUNCIL 
281 FourTH AVENUE, NEw YORK 


September 12, 1921. 
My dear Friend: 

It is not possible to let the Jubilee of the Woman’s Auxiliary pass 
without a word from the Church Missions House. May we send, 
therefore, through the officers, a message of greeting and congratu- 
lation to the Auxiliary in the Diocese. 

The efficient committee on the anniversary, under the able 
leadership of the Chairman, Miss Winston, has sent out suggestions 
for keeping this fiftieth birthday, and of course we shall all want to 
follow their plans. How beautiful it will be if every member who can 


96 JULIA CHESTER EMERY 


do so makes her Communion on Sunday, October 16th, thanking God 
for what the Woman’s Auxiliary has been able to accomplish through 
these years, and giving humble thanks that she is allowed to serve 
Him in and through this organization. You will do everything 
possible, we are sure, to see that this service of the Holy Communion 
is celebrated in every parish on October 16th, and that, as far as 
possible, every member of the Auxiliary knows about this anniversary 
and the invitation to take part in it. 

In our rejoicing we shall give thanks, too, for all that Miss 
Emery and her sisters have done; for the wise foundation laid by the 
first Secretary, Miss Mary A. Emery, for the wonderful guiding and 
developing care of Miss Julia C. Emery’s leadership, and the loving 
assistance of Miss M. T. Emery; and because no one can do it so 
appropriately, and also because we all love her and are deeply grate- 
ful for the many lessons she has taught us, I have asked Miss Emery 
to send a greeting and message to the Auxiliary, and this is only a 
few lines from the present officers at the Church Missions House to 
go with her message. 

Faithfully yours, 
(Signed) Grace LINDLEY, 
Executive Secretary. 


Woman’s AUXILIARY TO THE PREsIDING BisHoP AND COUNCIL 
PROTESTANT EPISCOPAL CHURCH 
281 FourTH AVENUE, NEw York 
September, 1921. 
My dear Friends: 

Miss Lindley has asked me to send you some message on the 
occasion of our Fiftieth -Anniversary,and I am glad to try in this way 
to link our happy past with what I hope may be a still better future. 

You remember that our first United-Offering was made in the 
Church of the Holy Communion, New York, in October, 1889. I 
want to take you back to the same Church, and to April 21,1880, 
when a special Service, with an instruction by Bishop Huntington, 
of Central New York, inaugurated the Society of the Royal Law. 
There may be one or two of the present members of the Woman’s 
Auxiliary who remember attending this Service, and a very few who 
recall their membership in this society. 

In the interval between her resignation, in 1876, and her appoint- 
ment as Honorary Secretary, in 1883, with a few of her friends, the 


ANNIVERSARIES 2H 


first Secretary of the Woman’s Auxiliary devised and set on foot 
this plan for an unorganized and unofficial society. It was to be com- 
posed of communicants of the Church, and its purpose was to be 
“ the especial cultivation of the gift of Charity, and a daily supplica- 
tion for the increasing holiness of all its members as a body, with 
frequent and particular intercession for such individuals as may be 
known personally or by their work to any one member.” 

Through correspondence circles, the distribution of leaflets, 
special Services, instructions, conferences, and for four years, 1885— 
1889, through the pages of a monthly magazine, Church Work, this 
purpose was set before the women of the Church. At the end of the 
four years bound volumes of the magazine were sent to the Bishops, 
to Divinity schools and Church colleges, to Sisterhood and Dea- 
coness houses, to boarding-schools for girls, to Diocesan branches of 
the Woman’s Auxiliary, and to. headquarters of other organizations 
of many kinds. These volumes must still be on the shelves of many 
of these libraries, and are also in the Library at the Church Missions 
House. 

Besides much other matter, the magazine gave the history of 
almost every form of woman’s work then organized in the Church, 
and the evident purpose was that every reader, whatever her own 
individual interest or activity, should know of every work, and, 
knowing of it, keep it in her loving thoughts and prayer. 

As we stand now on the threshold of a new beginning, the present 
leaders in the Woman’s Auxiliary, and those in the other societies 
making up the Church Service League, are bending their careful 
efforts upon the working out of some plan by means of which the 
various organizations of women in the Church today may be co- 
ordinated in a common, comprehensive service. My message, there- 
fore, is simply to express the earnest hope that we all, as we go on in 
the development of the aims for which the League stands, may 
preserve the purpose of the Society for the Royal Law, that the 
living force compelling us, and the banner under which we move, may 
be the Divine Power and the God-given standard of Love. 


Your affectionate friend, 
(Signed) Jutta C. Emery. 


How true to her ideals! How she reminds us of the 
work of another and sends her anniversary message 


98 JULIA CHESTER EMERY 


encouraging us above all our material methods to go for- 
ward in the strengthening power of our Heavenly Father! 

In October the Church’s missionary magazine was 
replete with interesting articles of the fifty years’ work, 
encouraging all members of the Auxiliary to look forward 
to even a more blessed future. Miss Emery’s testimony 
to the loving work of others is worthy of interest as 
showing deep appreciation: 


AUXILIARY CHARACTERISTICS 
By Julia C. Emery 


The editor of The Spirit of Missions has asked me to 
review the “ great epochs’ or “ great steps’ or “ great 
events’ which have marked the fifty years of the 
Woman’s Auxiliary, but as I have been looking back over 
those fifty years it seems to me that they have been, 
rather, fifty years of quiet growth. 

They had one great advantage in their beginning: 
The women of the Church did not have to go to Her 
representative body, urging a claim and begging for 
recognition; instead, that representative body came to 
the women of the Church, asking their help, giving them 
an assured position, and the right to share in the responsi- 
bilities and activities of the Church’s mission — privileges 
ever since continued to the Auxiliary by a long succession 
of the Society’s officers. 

Again, in its beginning the Woman’s Auxiliary was 
greatly blessed in that example of a generous yielding 
when societies that antedated the new one modified their 
methods in order that they might be included within its 
bounds. 

And it was early greatly favoured by the welcome 
given by the Bishops of the Church into diocese after 
diocese, and by their careful choice of fit persons to be the 


b 


ANNIVERSARIES 99 


Auxiliary’s diocesan leaders, assuming local responsibilities 
and meeting local conditions with fortitude. 

There can be no one so qualified as a secretary long at 
headquarters to tell the great, the inestimable share in 
the life of the Woman’s Auxiliary which these officers 
have had. Chosen by their Bishops because of their 
Christian character and their known love for the Church, 
the influence which they have brought to their task has 
been varied as well as great. 

The clear-cut executive ability of one, the super- 
abounding zeal and glowing, possessive love of another, 
the spiritual power overcoming natural hesitancy and 
reserve in a third, the feeling of true Christian fellowship 
in all, which have carried these women from parish to 
parish in their respective dioceses, prepared for any 
reception, and rejoicing in the support of the parochial 
clergy as they organized in all varieties of parishes and 
missions; 

The call of like to like, which made them the friends 
and helpers of missionaries, which brought hundreds 
together annually in the different dioceses, triennially, 
from throughout the Church; 

The spirit of adventure enjoyed in these journeys by 
fastest express or slowest freight, by stage or wagon, 
or by boat, on horse, by sedan chair, or jin-rick-sha, or by 
wheelbarrow or on foot; 

The free and full hospitality which opened parishes 
and homes to multitudes of missionaries and fellow- 
workers; 

The industry, business skill, and sense of responsi- 
bility and trust evidenced by unnumbered secretaries and 
treasurers; 

The response of understanding sympathy, of en- 
thusiasm, and of duty shown in numberless specials in 


100 JULIA CHESTER EMERY 


the United-Offering, and in increased gifts towards the 
Society’s appropriations; 

The clear-sighted vision and loving hearts that 
enlisted the children of the Church; 

The recognition of the need of missionary knowledge 
and education displayed in study classes, in missionary 
publications, in a co-operation with the efforts of others, 
and an heroic faith and steadfastness, inaugurating and 
developing publications, schools, conferences, of the 
Church’s own; 

The historic sense and dramatic feeling which have 
made their contributions to missionary knowledge and zeal; 

The realization that knowledge and zeal must be the 
beginning of definite training for workersin themission field; 

The profound attachment that has held women to the 
ranks of the Woman’s Auxiliary in an unchanged af- 
fection through many changing years; 

The spirit of devotion underlying and making real its 
life — the belief of its members that the work was given 
them of God to be done for Him and in His might — 
which has had its outward showing in daily prayers, 
united intercessions, corporate communions, spiritual 
instructions, quiet days. 

As my thoughts have glanced at these high qualities 
consecrated to Christ and His Church, there has arisen 
before my eyes a great company of women, well beloved, 
not diocesan officers only, but officers and members in 
parishes and missions, and the missionaries for and with 
whom they worked, and it seems to me in these we find 
a great cause for thankfulness to God. 

And as we turn from such a past to the future that is 
before us, we ask the same tender love and guidance that 
have blessed that past for the present Secretary and her 
associates upon their farther way. 


ANNIVERSARIES 101 


The story of fifty years of the box work of the Auxiliary, 
as given below, naturally finds a place here, for it was a 
part of Miss Emery’s daily interest until the growth of the 
work made it necessary for some other, her sister, to take 
it over: 


Box Work OF THE WoMAN’S AUXILIARY 
By Margaret T. Emery 


The story of the box work of the Woman’s Auxiliary is 
written in the hearts of hundreds of missionaries at home 
and abroad, and of the children and grandchildren of 
those who in the earliest days looked forward to the 
coming of the annual missionary box as the bringer of 
cheer, the solver of problems, the sharer of burdens. The 
tables of the numbers of boxes and their value give but 
the framework of the story. Its life and spirit linger in 
those lightened hearts and as vividly in the memories of a 
multitude of women who were as truly blessed in the 
preparing of the gifts. 

Long before the Auxiliary itself came into being, when 
the venerable Board of Missions was but a young thing, 
adventuring somewhat feebly on its way, the forerunners 
of the present competent Supply Committees sat down 
in New York and New Haven to cut and stitch the gar- 
ments that were to help our earliest missionaries in Green 
Bay and Nashotah in their work. Followed later the 
preparation of boxes for schools and missions for the 
Freedmen; and still before the dawning of the Auxiliary 
day, from here and there, notably from New York and 
Connecticut, good and helpful boxes went out to families 
of our missionaries in the West. 

Then came the birth of the Auxiliary, and, as or- 
ganization and system wrought efficiency in all its depart- 
ments, the box work also was systematized, until in time 


102 JULIA CHESTER EMERY 


every missionary in the Domestic missionary field, as 
well as missionaries of the Board in feeble dioceses, whose 
names were given to the Auxiliary by their Bishops, 
received their annual boxes. 

Mistakes there were, but, as a rule, the box was a joy 
to the senders, and, consequently, a comfort and pleasure 
to the receivers. 

That the work was on the whole satisfactorily as well 
as lovingly done was shown by the cries of protest received 
at Auxiliary headquarters when it was proposed that 
money gifts be substituted for the annual box, and many 
have been those who have declared again and again that 
they could never have stayed in the mission field had it 
not been for this help. 

Charming stories might be told of new babies in 
missionary homes arrayed by their proud mothers in the 
lovely christening robe found in the box, with all other 
dainty clothing for the little one; of young brides happy 
in the trousseau prepared by unknown but ever-to-be- 
loved Auxiliary friends who did not stop short of the little 
prettinesses that made the outfit “just like other girls,” 
nor forgot to include even the wedding cake. And how 
many a missionary wife can recall the relief that rose in 
her heart when the ever-desired clerical suit, backbone of 
the whole, came in time for her to send forth her man to 
convention or other gathering clad as well as the best? 

It is these things that we like to remember in looking 
back over fifty years of box work; and the lasting friend- 
ships that have been formed between those who have 
never seen each other’s faces on earth, but feel sure they 
will recognize them in Heaven; and the prayers that have 
gone up for the workers in the field from the workers at 
home, and for the women who packed the boxes from 
those who explored their treasures. 


CHAPTER XI 


The Jubilee Celebrated 


N Miss Lindley’s own words we have an account of 
how the Anniversary was kept: 


From cathedrals to little missions, in this country and in foreign 
lands, the members of the Auxiliary gave thanks and re-consecrated 
themselves. That Anniversary could not be passed over at head- 
quarters, and therefore we turned the regular October Conference for 
diocesan officers into the day of our celebration. 

The result gave us a celebration in which we were most happy. 
First of all, Miss Julia C. Emery and Miss M. T. Emery were able 
to be with us; and Mrs. Sioussat, President of the Woman’s Auxiliary 
of Maryland, and the one diocesan officer who, as a girl, had actually 
been present in Emmanuel Church, Baltimore, when the resolution 
was passed, most appropriately and graciously presided over the 
meeting; and many friends representing many dioceses were present. 

First came the Service in the Chapel, with Bishop Gailor as 
celebrant. The Bishop also spoke, mentioning the many services at 
which he had spoken in honour of the Jubilee. 

At the close of the Service the meeting was held in the Board 
Room, which was opened by Mrs. Sioussat with appropriate and 
inspiring words of the Auxiliary’s past. 

Miss Emery’s own address followed, with its wonderful parting 
message to the Woman’s Auxiliary, which address proved to be her 
last, as also was it the occasion of her last visit to New York and the 
Church Missions House. She said: 

“These days have been full of thankfulness to us in the Woman’s 
Auxiliary. We have been deeply thankful to our God for the privilege 
that He has given to the women of the Church in these last fifty years 
to serve Him. We are mutually grateful to one another for the joy 
that we have had each with the other in the common service. We are 


103 


104 JULIA CHESTER EMERY 


grateful to Miss Lindley today that she has managed to get so many 
old friends together to look into each others’ faces, some whose friend- 
ship runs back through these fifty years, in whose memories there 
lives today the thought of those who served with us in the past, who 
serve with us today, and will never cease their service. 


““ How much we have to be grateful for! The day before yester- 
day I received from South Dakota this little book, a memorial of the 
Jubilee. It is full of names of Christian people, Indians and white 
people, and records of past remembrances. When we speak of 
South Dakota we think of one who was perhaps in all our Church’s 
history the greatest missionary hero; one who gave youth and the. 
beauty of personality to the service of the Indians; one who knew 
to suffer mentally and bodily until death came upon him as a merciful 
release. There are those to whom he was very near and very dear. 
The women of the Auxiliary loved to pour their treasure out for his 
work among the Indians, and when the day came that he was called 
upon to go, there might have been the thought that South Dakota 
was going to suffer such a loss as could never be repaired. We turn, 
however, to the pages of such a little book as this, and we see how 
God raises up for His work successors who shall take up that work 
and carry it on with the blessing God gave it in the past. There is 
nothing but hope and courage and cheer in the history of the missions 


of the Church of Christ. 


“T spoke a little while ago of our causes for gratitude. For fifty 
years the Woman’s Auxiliary has been deeply indebted to the au- 
thorities of the Church. The Auxiliary never could have lived its 
life and never could have done its work had it not been sustained 
and helped by those whom the Church had placed foremost in the 
conduct of the affairs of the Missionary Society. We owe much to 
the officers who have been placed in this home of missions for many 
years of leadership, of guardianship, of care — for how much trouble 
we have given them! Mr. Tompkins stands there, and no one knows 
better than he how one woman will write and want to know whether 
the $2.85 sent four months before has gone straight to Saint Stephen’s 
Mission, Alaska. Or think of Mr. Wood having to plan how his one 
solitary missionary can go around to the hundreds of branches that 
want to hear him speak. What a debt of gratitude we owe there! 

“And that debt is going on into the present time. New officers 
have come, new leaders have arisen. The latest report from Mrs. 


THE JUBILEE CELEBRATED 105 


Biller tells of her visits to the mission field, and many of the women 
she met have consecrated themselves to the cause of Christ. If we 
have only one hundred this year and two hundred next year, and so 
on, what may we not do? 

“Fifty years is something to look back upon; it is something to 
look forward to. We do not know what lies before us, but we do 
know that the one thought we would carry away from such a gathering 
as this is that we want the one purpose, the one aim, the one object, 
in which every smaller and lesser purpose and aim and object are 
hidden away, and in which everything that may cause dissent or 
difference may die—please let us make every effort of that future 
with one end in view — that each day we live, each work we do, each 
word we say, may give our Lord and Saviour, the Master of us all, 
joy and light!”’ 


Miss Lindley continues: 


At twelve o’clock Mrs. Sioussat closed the meeting, asking 
“every woman present to go with us to the Chapel and have this 
memorable reunion of the early days crowned with the words of 
greeting from one to whom we looked for guidance and counsel for 
so many years — Bishop Lloyd will speak to us from his wealth of 
experiences and his consecration to the service of the Woman’s 
Auxiliary.” 

The Bishop began by speaking of Miss Emery, than whom “ there 
is no individual in the Church to whom we owe more, because faith- 
fully and bravely she has stood in her place and accepted nobody’s 
thanks, because she was doing what she considered her high privi- 
lege’; and of his own debt of gratitude to her, adding that “ though 
we do not talk about her to her face, the reason that woman has 
been such a blessing to us is that she has been faithful about the 
things we talk about!”’ Then, referring to the work of the Auxiliary, 
he said that which will warm the heart of every member: 

“There is a word I want to say. Your work has grown and 
prospered. You have seen things grow out of little seedlings into a 
power which cannot be resisted. Most of all, you have seen the 
Church, after one hundred years’ groping, come out into the light 
of a national organization. If you do not know it, I am here to tell 
you that there is no influence in the American Church that has had 
more to do with the Church appreciating the fact that it has responsi- 


< 


106 JULIA CHESTER EMERY 


bility resting upon it than the Woman’s Auxiliary. There is no 
influence that has had more to do with breaking down the individual- 
ism that so long hampered everything, with helping the Church to 
think of itself as a unit — no influence has been so potent towards 
bringing these things to pass as the steady stand which the women of 
the Church have taken and have persistently kept before the Church, 
in season and out of season, that the Body of Christ is here to com- 
plete that for which Christ became incarnate. Down underneath 
everything else, and the foundation on which all human development 
must rest, is the revelation Christ showed of His Father, and there- 
fore the Mission intrusted to the Church is the reason why and the 
purpose for which all of us are Christians. The Woman’s Auxiliary has 
been ringing that up and down the Church for all the time I have 
known it and before. I have been in touch with the members for 
forty of their fifty years, and sometimes my very skin depended on 
the Woman’s Auxiliary back of me, because without them I could 
not have accomplished my work.” 

After the closing prayers and the benediction, the Service ended, 
as so many meetings of the Woman’s Auxiliary have ended through 
these fifty years, with the singing of the Doxology. 


That this Jubilee year might be marked in some sub- 
stantial or material way, the women of the Church passed 
a resolution and appointed a committee to establish what 
was to be known as the “‘ Jubilee or Emery Fund.” 


The income from this Fund, already referred to in the pre- 
vious chapter, will be used for missionaries at home on furlough 
for board, medical care, study, or recreation. Many a missionary 
returns on furlough needing medical or dental treatment, but is 
unable to pay for this attention because of the meagre stipend 
received. Or perhaps some devoted soul is willing to give vacation 
time to study, so that she may be better equipped to do the work 
when she returns to her post, whether it be in America or a foreign 
land. Or perhaps it is just that some poor worn-out missionary needs 
a rest, and we would like to pay her board during this period, or 
provide some other form of recreation for the one who has been our 
representative on the firing-line. It was such thoughts as these that 
led the women to decide to mark the fiftieth anniversary by this gift. 


THE JUBILEE CELEBRATED 107 


The idea is that every woman in the Church, and men, too, if they 
care to be included, should have a part in it, and therefore we are 
suggesting that each woman should give at least fifty cents (one cent 
for each year). Many will want to give more and should be en- 
couraged to do so, as we shall need some large gifts if we are to 
attain our goal of $50,000; but we are anxious that this offering 
should be truly representative of the womanhood of the Church and 
that each gift should be accompanied by prayer. This should not 
in any way interfere with our regular contributions, especially that 
other gift of privilege, the United Thank-Offering, but should be over 
and above all others, just as we would make a present to anyone 
whom we love on an anniversary meaning so much to us both. 

On October 16, 1921, the women all over the country are asked 
to re-dedicate themselves to the service of their Lord at His Altar 
by participating in the sacrament of the Holy Communion, thanking 
Him for what the Auxiliary has done in the past, and asking His 
guidance and blessing for the future. If we truly appreciate our 
privileges as Christian women, the “Emery Fund” will greatly 
exceed the $50,000 goal. 


And it did, for we read later in The Spirit of Missions: 


The suggested goal of $50,000 for the “ Emery Fund ”’ has been 
reached and passed. . . . It will be a matter of sincere gratification 
to the Misses Emery and to their many friends that the ‘‘ Emery 
Fund ” is to be used to bring comfort to others. 


The full amount raised, every diocesan branch of the 
Woman’s Auxiliary contributing, reached a total of 
$93,258.58. : 

Miss Emery’s appreciation is shown in what she 
writes to Miss Lindley on hearing the good news: 


It was dear in you to send me that midnight message, and we are 
all so happy over it. I hadn’t the faith to be sure the amount pro- 
posed would be given, and now it is such a cheer to hear that it is 
already exceeded. Every addition will make it just so much more 
useful, and I feel so much of it is owing to what you are and the way 
in which you do. 


108 JULIA CHESTER EMERY 


A novel way of celebrating the Jubilee of the Woman’s 
Auxiliary was the reception given to our Liberian mis- 
sionaries, the *Rev. W. H. Ramsaur and Mrs. Ramsaur, 
at the residence of one of our diocesan presidents. About 
one hundred women from the near-by parishes had 
gathered and listened with rapt attention to addresses 
from both Mr. and Mrs. Ramsaur. After the meeting a 
huge birthday cake with fifty lighted candles, and deco- 
rated with the letters “ W. A.,” was brought in by the 
hostess, who explained that as the Woman’s Auxiliary 
was fifty years old she thought this was an appropriate 
time to have a birthday party. 

The wife of the Bishop of South Dakota made use of 
an ingenious scheme in collecting for the Emery Jubilee 
Fund in that district. We will let her tell itin her own words: 

I had a loose-leaf black leather notebook about eight inches by 
five, with “ Woman’s Auxiliary, Jubilee Fund, South Dakota,” on 
the cover in gilt letters. A ‘white woman could sign her name in the 
book if she gave at least twenty-five cents, and an Indian woman 
could sign, or make her mark, for ten cents. In signing they wrote 
also how many years they had worked in the W. A. Men could sign 
for fifty cents. They had to pay more because they are not giving 
to the United-Offering. 


Another interesting feature of the celebration of the 
Auxiliary’s fiftieth anniversary was the “ Anniversary 
Books,” or “‘ Books of Remembrance,” compiled by a 
number of the diocesan branches in commemoration of 
the members of the Auxiliary who, having rendered faith- 
ful and valuable service, had gone to their reward. 

Massachusetts, and also Newark, prepared an elabo- 
rate volume, giving to each parish in its diocese a full 
page upon which the names of those they wished to 
remember are inscribed. Each year the names of those 


* Both Mr. and Mrs. Ramsaur have recently died. 


THE JUBILEE CELEBRATED 109 


having since died are added on the page devoted to their 
respective parishes, and the book again received and 
dedicated by the bishop. 

We have already told what Miss Emery said in her 
Jubilee address of the book in South Dakota. New 
York’s book contains a brief history of the New York 
Branch, followed by a list of all the presidents of the 
standing committees from their organization, and the 
presidents of the branch, with their dates of service, and 
the honorary officers; names of sixty-two diocesan 
officers, and two hundred and eighty-two members of 
parish branches who have rendered faithful service in 
the past and have now entered into Rest. Following 
these are the names of eighty-three members of the 
New York Branch still living, who have served notably for 
fifteen years or more. 

The volume is bound in white leather with a hand- 
illuminated title-page. 

In almost every diocese some form of special service 
was held as an Anniversary Celebration, which was at- 
tended by countless numbers of their Auxiliary members. 
Where there is a Cathedral it was held there, and sermons 
were preached as a special feature of the day. New York’s 
service was on All Saints’ Day, at the Cathedral Church 
of St. John the Divine, when Bishop Lloyd preached and 
the Bishop of the Diocese was the celebrant. At this 
service the Anniversary Book was received by the Bishop, 
and by him reverently placed upon the Altar as a symbol 
of the service of the women of the diocese. Though it was 
to this diocese that Miss Emery belonged, to the grief of 
all she was unable to be present. 

This was but one of the many beautiful and inspiring 
services throughout the country in commemoration of 


the “ Golden Jubilee.” 


110 JULIA CHESTER EMERY 


May what Bishop Gailor, President of the National 
Council, says, in writing for its semi-centennial, always 
be true: 

The Woman’s Auxiliary has put the emphasis upon prayer and 
worship. It has made the spiritual values of life the first considera- 
tion. It has taught us to realize that faithfully to seek the Kingdom 
of God and His righteousness is to have all other things added unto 
us; and we may humbly and gratefully look back upon the fifty years 
of this splendid service and say, “ What hath God wrought.” 


And may God accept her thanksgiving and grant her 
petition, as her many members, with one heart and one 
mouth, pray: 

“Thanks be to Thee, Almighty God, for the work 
which Thou hast wrought by the hand of Thy humble 
servants. Continue, we pray Thee, Thy grace to us 
from generation to generation, that Thy Name may be 
glorified in the lives of Thy servants until all men know 
Thy Son Jesus Christ as their Lord and Saviour. Amen.” 


CHAPTER XII 


Close of a Completed Life 


BOUT four years before the end, Miss Emery, feeling 
that all was not well with her, called upon her 
physician, who, after a thorough physical examination, 
told her she had the choice before her of living a life of 
inactivity, entirely free from work or responsibility, choos- 
ing which she would probably live, or “‘ breathe,” as he 
expressed it, a few months longer than if she continued in 
the work so far as she was able, and which he knew she 
so much loved, and made life to her the pleasure and 
joy it was. No one knowing her could doubt which of 
the two courses she would take. 

So, the condition of her health unknown to her friends, 
she continued her “labour of love.” For three years 
longer she commuted and, occupying a little room on 
the top floor of the Church Missions House, studiously 
laboured over the book, “A Century of Endeavor,” 
coming to town for that purpose every day. Later, finding 
this too irksome, she came two or three days a week only. 
She never lessened her interest nor her zeal, however, 
until every page of this valuable history of the Church’s 
missionary work was carefully and conscientiously com- 
pleted. 

As the attacks of pain and distress became more 
frequent, coming usually at night, thus robbing her of 
needed rest, her visits to New York ceased altogether. 

On January 12, 1921, she writes to a friend: 

111 


112 JULIA CHESTER EMERY 


I haven’t been quite right for a good while, and did not seem to be 
gaining, when Dr. telephoned out about a doctor he wanted 
me to see. He has been out twice, very nice and cheery, and has put 
me to bed for three or four weeks — a rest cure! I am not to have 
visitors, but can read all I wish, and write half an hour each morning 
and afternoon. 





She writes then of the books she is reading; the atten- 
tions of the neighbours, who “‘are more than kind”’; of her 
room being filled with flowers and fruit from loving friends. 

She was up and about again a little after this, and it 
was then that she busied herself with articles on the 
Jubilee Celebration and wrote the lives of Bishop Hobart 
and Bishop Griswold, already referred to in a previous 
chapter. 

It was at the close of this year, October 20th, though 
very far from well, that she and her sister were able to be 
present at the Officers’ Conference at the Church Missions 
House, when the Auxiliary’s Jubilee was especially cele- 
brated. A friend kindly took them in her car to New York 
and back on that occasion, to save unnecessary fatigue, 
and another friend had them to luncheon. 

It was about this time that Miss Lindley conceived 
the happy idea of preparing “A Book of Appreciation ” 
to be presented to Miss Emery, which idea was at once 
taken up with enthusiasm by the National Executive 
Board of the Woman’s Auxiliary, and was carried through 
successfully. 

The following circular letter was sent to about two 
hundred people, scattered in many directions throughout 
the Church, which brought responses from one-hundred 
and twenty-nine, including thirty-one bishops, nine mis- 
sionaries, sixty-four Auxiliary officers or former officers, 
twelve secretaries at the Mission Rooms, and thirteen 
personal friends. 


CLOSE OF A COMPLETED LIFE 113 


Miss Lindley’s letter reads: 

November 29, 1921. 

The Executive Board of the Woman’s Auxiliary plans to give to 
Miss Julia C. Emery “ A Book of Appreciation”? on January 2nd, 
which will be the fiftieth anniversary of the day when her sister, 
Miss Mary A. Emery (Mrs. Twing), came to Headquarters in New 
York to organize the Woman’s Auxiliary. We would like to hear 
from a few of Miss Emery’s friends. Won’t you write a message, 
telling what the Woman’s Auxiliary and her work have meant to 
you? If you will write this on one side of a sheet of paper not 
larger than 814 x 6 inches, we will paste it into the Book. 

Please mail your message to Miss M. A. Tomes, Church Missions 
House, 281 Fourth Avenue, New York, as soon as possible, even by 
return mail. Miss Tomes, being an intimate friend of Miss Emery, 
has kindly consented to compile the Book. 

We realize that the time is very short, so we will appreciate your 
promptness, and hope we are not asking too much. 


Very sincerely yours, 


(Signed) Grack LINDLEY, 
Executive Secretary. 


That the response was so general was hardly a sur- 
prise, but a great gratification to everyone. The book 
itself was a worthy tribute of affection and appreciation 
from the Woman’s Auxiliary to its beloved Secretary of 
so many years. No expense was spared in making the 
volume one of beauty and interest. These one hundred 
and twenty-nine autograph letters, replete with words of 
appreciation from all parts of the world and many varie- 
ties of people, alone make it invaluable; the binding of 
bright blue goat-skin lined with white moiré silk, with a 
clasped lap, enclosing hand-illuminated title-page, the 
Foreword, and the letters, each one of which is pasted 
on a separate page, make it a thing of beauty. 

The Foreword is here given for the benefit of those 
who may not see the book itself: 


114 JULIA CHESTER EMERY 


FOREWORD 

In presenting to you this Book on January 2nd, 1922, we are 
commemorating the day, fifty years ago, when your sister, Miss Mary 
Abbot Emery, first took up her work as organizer and first Secretary 
of the Woman’s Auxiliary to the Board of Missions. 

When, upon her marriage to the Rev. Dr. Alvi T. Twing, you 
assumed her duties, you could scarcely have foreseen that, even after 
forty years of devoted service, the Woman’s Auxiliary should have 
reached the proportions it has today, with a diocesan branch in every 
diocese and missionary district in the American Church, all organized 
during your term of office. As Mrs. Twing so ably planted, and you 
faithfully and prayerfully watered, so surely has God given the 
increase. 

Each letter in this Book brings a message of love and appreciation 
from some one of your many friends and fellow-workers throughout 
the Church, and whose hearts are full of gratitude for your many 
years of patient labour and your example of enduring faith. 

No one more than you would wish to share these words of ap- 
preciation with your sisters, Miss Susan L. Emery and Miss Margaret 
Theresa Emery, each of whom for years fulfilled the duties of editor 
of The Young Christian Soldier, and the latter also as your assistant 
in the box work. 

Nor would you, nor we, fail to remember that other, Miss Helen 
W. Emery, whose unobtrusive watchfulness in the home, and untiring 
care of her sisters, has made it possible for them to give of their best 
to the Christ and the work of His Church. 


January 2nd being the date chosen for the presenta- 
tion of the “Book of Appreciation,” it was arranged that the 
originator and the compiler should that afternoon visit 
Scarsdale and present it to Miss Emery. 

Late the evening before, the compiler received a call 
from a relative of Miss Emery, and one of her physicians, 
who had just returned from a visit to her, to say that 
Miss Emery had that day suffered a slight stroke and 
would not be able to receive the official delegation. She 
asked at once if that meant that she, as a personal friend, 






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CLOSE OF A COMPLETED LIFE 115 


should not go to them, to which he replied, ‘‘ No, cer- 
tainly not,’ and as he was again motoring to Scarsdale 
himself the next day, kindly invited her to accompany 
him. The following very cold morning they started, and 
had gone but six or seven blocks when a taxi-cab crossed 
their path and a collision occurred. There was nothing 
to do but to return home, as a broken wind-shield and a 
few cuts on her face threw both the car and the compiler 
out of commission. 

Miss Lindley, who, as the originator of the loving 
thought which produced the “ Book,” and who surely 
was the appropriate presenter, kindly came to the rescue 
and carried the precious burden herself to Miss Emery’s 
bedside and placed it in her hands. She, however, was too 
ill at the time to see or appreciate the gift. She rallied a 
little a few days later, and was able to have read to her 
by her sisters the Foreword and a few of the letters. 
This was all, but showing her appreciation she asked to 
have the “ Book ”’ beside her on the bed where she might 
place her hand upon it. 

A week later I was able to go to Scarsdale, and I was 
urged again to put it into her hands. She thanked me 
with a smile, and lovingly turned leaf after leaf, though 
her eyes were too dim to read the loving words of her 
many devoted friends. Her faltering tongue could only 
say very feebly, ““ Very nice, very nice.” 

That evening, January 9, 1922, a few minutes before 
midnight, when all was accomplished, she folded her 
hands in sleep — a life fully lived and fully completed. 

Three days later, on the afternoon of January 12th, 
Services were held in the Church of St. James the Less, 
Scarsdale, and at the setting of the sun Julia Chester 
Emery was laid to rest in the little churchyard, and close 
to the door of the church she loved so well. 


116 JULIA CHESTER EMERY 


Men and women from the town in which she lived 
filled the pews with those from distant dioceses, officers 
and members of the Auxiliary from Massachusetts, New 
York, Long Island, Newark, and Erie, who gathered 
to do her honour. Every seat was occupied by her many 
friends. The Services were conducted by the Rev. Alan 
R. Chalmers, her rector, and by Bishop Rowe, of Alaska. 
A friend and co-worker writes thus: 

The Service seemed especially beautiful—in its triumphant 
assurance of death overcome and victory won, and the hymns — 


Miss Emery’s favorites — strengthened that impression: “‘O God, 
Our Help in Ages Past’; “‘ Jesus, the Very Thought of Thee.” 


As the family and friends left the church and gathered 
around the open grave, the choir followed, singing verse 
after verse of the hymn “ For All Thy Saints Who from 
Their Labours Rest.” The sun was setting, the western 
sky a glorious mass of purple and gold as the beautiful 
words of the Committal Service were said. It was a 
lovely scene, — the fresh and dazzling snow and ice 
covering the earth, the dark overhanging branches of the 
protecting trees, the masses of flowers from many devoted 
friends, — and will never be forgotten by those who 
stood with hearts full of thankfulness for the example of 
her beautiful life and the desire to follow whither she had 
led. As the Bishop raised his hand to pronounce the 
blessing, the sun burst through the clouds and rested 
upon the open grave as though making visible the words 
the choir had just sung: 

The golden evening brightens in the West; 

Soon, soon to faithful warriors cometh rest; 

Sweet is the calm of Paradise the blest. 
Alleluia. 

Her life and work stand for all time as an enduring 
monument to her faith and zeal in the Master’s service, 


CLOSE OF A COMPLETED LIFE 117 


and are today an appealing Call to every woman in the 
Church to enlist in that great army of women which, 
throughout this whole country and beyond, were, through 
her influence, recruited in “ countless hosts” to fight and 


to win the World for CHRIST. 


The spot where she lies is marked by a simple granite 
stone bearing this inscription: 


f 


JULIA CHESTER EMERY 


September 24, 1852 
January 9, 1922 


“ The Glory of the Lord is Risen upon Thee ” 


CHAPTER XIII 


Words of Appreciation 


S the distance and the limited size of the church at 
Scarsdale made it impossible for the many who 
wished to pay homage to Miss Emery’s memory to attend 
the funeral Services, a “ Service of Praise and Thanks- 
giving for the life and example of Julia Chester Emery”’ 
was held at the Church of the Incarnation, New York, 
on Thursday morning, February 9, 1922, with a Celebra- 
tion of the Holy Communion. Bishop Lloyd was the 
celebrant, assisted by Bishop Rowe, the Rev. Ernest M. 
Stires, and the Rev. H. Percy Silver. In the chancel also 
were Bishop Reese, of Georgia, and a large number of the 
clergy of New York City. Bishop Reese and Dr. Stires 
came as representatives of the Presiding Bishop and 
Council, which was in executive session and unable to 
attend in a body. 

In the congregation, which literally filled the church, 
were members of the National Executive Board of the 
Woman’s Auxiliary, lay-members of the National Coun- 
cil, the staff at the Church Missions House, and mission- 
aries at home on furlough, all of whom had special seats 
allotted to them. 

Each parish branch in the diocese had as many seats 
assigned to it as were asked for, and all the organizations 
of women in the Church were also similarly provided, 
as well as representatives from neighbouring diocesan 
branches. 

118 


WORDS OF APPRECIATION 119 


To The Churchman we are indebted for the following 
synopsis of the addresses made at this Service: 


Bishop Rowe, the first speaker, referred to Miss Emery’s wonder- 
ful capacity for personal friendship with every missionary, whether 
bishop or whether the newest and most inexperienced lay-worker in 
the field. He spoke of Miss Emery’s letters, all written in her own 
hand; all the letters of a friend who cared for the person to whom 
she wrote and was deeply interested in that person’s special problem. 
The Bishop mentioned still another kind of help that Miss Emery 
gave to the missionaries: her warm and never-failing hospitality. 
Bishop Rowe asked: “‘ How shall we explain the great spirit of this 
servant of God? Why was she the most outstanding figure in the 
American Church?” The answer: her personality, summed up in 
that greatest of words, faithfulness. 

Bishop Lloyd spoke also of Miss Emery’s personality. He said 
that it was a source of power because it was informed by, filled with, 
the spirit of God. In moving words Bishop Lloyd described Miss 
Emery’s personality as he learned to know it in twenty years of close 
association with her in the ways of daily work at the Church Missions 
House. He spoke of the significance of the fact that before him and 
around him, filling the church, were men and women gathered to do 
high honour to a woman whose care had always been to be incon- 
spicuous, who was the most shy, the most retiring, the least “‘ public ”’ 
of persons. Bishop Lloyd spoke of Miss Emery’s steadfastness. 
Never in all her life was she “‘ aggressive’; always she was prone 
to think that she might be wrong and the other person right; and 
yet she held fast to what she believed to be right. She never lost 
sight of the purpose of the Christian life, of the goal of the child of 
God. The Bishop said that where others wondered or hoped, Miss 
Emery knew; but she never questioned the revelation itself. As a 
Christian, she believed in the Church as a Missionary Church; her 
life was dedicated to that Church. 


Her rector’s tribute is also very beautiful, as it ap- 
peared in his parish paper: 

There are many gifts which come to us from above. One of the 
most precious is the opportunity of knowing a child of God, whose 


life throughout is filled with loving service. That privilege has been 
given to us in this parish through the life of Julia Chester Emery. 


120 JULIA CHESTER EMERY 


No one can measure the influence for good which radiated from her 
person all the days of her life. We are each one of us better men and 
women because we have known her. 


From the Church Missions House, her second “ home,”’ 
her fellow-workers, the Secretaries of the Woman’s 
Auxiliary, find expression not in words of sadness at their 
loss, but in a feeling of infinite peace: 


It was a privilege beyond expression to have been permitted to 
spend a few moments in that quiet room, where a life which had been 
lived greatly was drawing greatly to its close. There was no sadness, 
but only a great peace, teaching to those of us who felt its wonder the 
lesson of what a Christian’s last days can be. 

With the members of her devoted family beside her she peace- 
fully breathed her last. As soon as the news which brought so keen 
a sense of loss to all who had known and loved Miss Emery was 
received, telegrams from officers and members of the Auxiliary 
representing almost every diocese and missionary district both at 
home and abroad began to pour into the Church Missions House— 
messages filled with love and gratitude for the example of a noble 
life, and of sympathy for those who were left without the joy which 
her presence brought. 

We regret that space will not permit the publication of all the 
messages which showed how deep was the sense of loss throughout 
the Church. 

From points as widely scattered as Oregon, Western Massachu- 
setts, Duluth, and Idaho, messages were received; with two from 
the coloured branches of the dioceses of South Carolina and Georgia, 
all of which, while expressing grief at her loss, thank God for her 
example and inspiration. 


The Spirit of Missions (February, 1922) gave pages 
to the memory of Miss Emery, and many loving friends 
and co-workers were glad to tell others what they knew 
of her and what her life had meant to them. We will 
quote only Bishop Lloyd and Miss Lindley, who of all 
her co-workers had the opportunity of knowing her best. 
Bishop Lloyd, a close friend, and one who worked with 


WORDS OF APPRECIATION 121 


her at the Missions House for more than twenty years, 
speaks of her thus: 


The passing of Miss Julia Chester Emery brings mingled feelings 
of sorrowand joy to the multitude who loved her throughout the world. 

There is joy because she has entered into the joy of her Lord. 
There is sorrow because all are alike conscious that they are bereft 
of a friend whom they could rely on and whose example was ever a 
challenge to steadfastness and patience and courage and faith. 
Everyone, whether man or woman, who knew Miss Emery knew 
that in her they had-seen one who was her Master’s servant without 
withholding anything. 

The end of Miss Emery’s course was in singular accord with the 
life she had lived. As in the days when she was actively at work, she 
never left her desk till the day’s task was finished and her desk in 
order; so the One she served gave her this joy also, that when He 
called her to the new service waiting, she should first see the summing 
up of her day’s work and share with the whole Church the satisfaction 
of seeing how blessed that day’s work had been. 

Even in details she had this pleasure. She was able to enjoy all 
the services held in commemoration of the fiftieth anniversary of 
the Woman’s Auxiliary. She had the comfort of knowing provision 
had been made for the better care of missionaries on their furlough, 
because God’s people were moved to make it possible for her to have 
her heart’s desire in this matter. She saw the story she had prepared 
of the growth of the Board of Missions 1n the people’s hands. And 
as though to make it clear that none of this was accident, while she 
was still able to enjoy it, the study of Bishop Griswold’s work, to 
which she had given so much labour and thought, came to her fresh 
from the press. Then she fell on sleep with the same calmness and 
serenity which had marked all she did and said, while in her body 
she bore witness to His Resurrection. 

The whole Church knows Miss Emery and the story of the 
growth of that work which will remain the best monument to her 
wisdom and grace and fidelity, since the fifty years’ work of the 
Woman’s Auxiliary to the Board of Missions is practically a demon- 
stration of her ever-growing understanding and courage. 

It would be useless to recite again all the good works Miss Emery 
did, or to tell of her unwearied fidelity in her work, or to recall the 
story of her unwavering sympathy and solicitude for those who had 


122 JULIA CHESTER EMERY 


given their lives to carry forward the Church’s Mission. All this has 
been often repeated in these days when to speak of the Church’s 
work included of necessity reference to Miss Emery’s share in it, so 
closely identified has been the Woman’s Auxiliary with all progress 
in the Church’s growth. At the same time, it would be to defraud 
the Church if one who had the privilege of working near to Miss 
Emery for many years were to withhold that which has seemed to 
furnish explanation of the delightful harmony and good-will which 
marked the work she represented. 

When one recalls that during the fifty years of the Auxiliary’s 
life there has not been one ugly page in the story of its growth, it is 
evident that there must have been some potent force at work. Not 
only does the Auxiliary represent all sorts and conditions of women, 
but from the beginning its leaders have been representatives of that 
class who, because most intelligent and competent, are folk who 
have a mind to do their own thinking; and because they are strong 
and keen for their cause must express their thoughts without reserve. 
Because they are mortals, even though they may be saints, folk 
delight in having their way; nor has this mark of vigorous life ever 
been lacking in the Woman’s Auxiliary. Yet in spite of oftentimes 
hot discussion and sharp disagreement, the Auxiliary never forgot 
its business, nor departed from its purpose, nor was weakened by 
dissension. There must have been cause for this, and to one who 
saw things from the centre, sufficient reason was found in the astonish- 
ing understanding and sympathy and self-restraint which were so 
conspicuous in the character of the woman who for so many years, 
without serious challenge, was the leader of them all. 

She could make those unlike at one, because she was able through 
her clear understanding to interpret one to the other. Miss Emery 
was a striking exhibition of the wonderful power that He will give 
to His servant whose only purpose it is to know the Master’s mind 
and do it. To follow her as she followed Christ would mean to those 
whom Christ has set as leaders in His Church the wisdom which 
would make possible the healing of the schisms of His Body. 


Who better than Miss Lindley, whose was the privi- 
lege of taking up the task she had laid down, can tell us 
of the love and consecration Miss Emery gave to her 
service for the Master. She writes: 


WORDS OF APPRECIATION 123 


One thinks of her large, clear outlook and planning. She always 
seemed to keep the end in view, never becoming so engrossed in 
details as to lose sight of the reason why sharing in the Mission of the 
Church is the supreme duty and privilege of every member of the 
Church. That is why the one who built up the Woman’s Auxiliary 
never allowed us to become engrossed in the organization, but made 
the wonderful organization only a means through which the Church’s 
daughters might serve the Church. So we think not so much of her 
love of the Auxiliary, but of her deep love of the Church. 

Having said that, one thinks of the keynote of her character and 
all her work — absolute, entire consecration. She gave herself so 
absolutely and completely to the Christ and His Church that her 
whole life was a beautiful one of love and service. As a natural 
result, it was a life of energy. Fortunately, she had wonderful health, 
and she gave all her time and strength to the work. A remark made 
by one of the women missionaries in China brings a smile. After 
Miss Emery’s energetic visitation of the missions, this missionary 
wrote: “The only thing that troubled us was the fear that she 
wouldn’t think we worked hard enough, for we couldn’t keep up 
with her!” But the missionary need not have worried, there never 
was any criticism. In all the years I have never heard one word of 
criticism of anyone, and many words of approval and commendation. 
Her reports mentioned this and that person, this and that branch 
doing such good work, introducing a new plan, and she was continually 
referring questioners to persons who could help them. I cannot 
imagine that a jealous thought ever entered her mind; in fact, I can’t 
think she ever thought of herself, but only of the work and of others. 

One more characteristic must be mentioned, because we shall 
want to remember it—her willingness for change and new ways of 
development. Those of us who heard her closing speech at the 
Triennial in Saint Louis, made the morning when she had definitely 
decided to resign, will remember how she told us change should mean 
new life, and that we should go forward gladly. One of the newspapers 
spoke of her resigning in 1916 on account of “ failing health,” but it 
was for no such reason. She resigned because she felt the next gener- 
ation should have the privilege of carrying on the work. In these last 
years of change and adjustment, she encouraged us to try new ways. 

A letter came from a troubled member of the Auxiliary begging 
us to make no changes in the Auxiliary, “at least as long as Miss 


124 JULIA CHESTER EMERY 


Emery was here to be hurt by them.” I sent the request to Miss 
Emery, telling her that my answer had been that she was the most 
progressive, not to say radical, one of us all! 

But we could go on endlessly talking of those years through 
which Miss Emery taught us. It will be better testimony to live 
those lessons through the years to come. In closing, however, | 
want to share one thing with the whole Auxiliary. While I was 
working under her, many a time when I was starting off on a trip, 
she went to the doors of the Church Missions House with me, and, 
as she bade me good-bye, whispered a “‘ God bless you.” It was the 
last thing she said to me a few days ago. I should like to share that 
blessing of hers with the Auxiliary. 

And for her? We cannot but rejoice in her joy. 


Miss Lindley again, in her Triennial Report to the 
Presiding Bishop and Council meeting in Portland, 
Oregon, in October of this year, gives this most beautiful 
tribute: 


The Triennium of 1919-1922 has been an important period in the 
life of the Woman’s Auxiliary. Its most sorrowful experience came 
through the death of Miss Julia Chester Emery, who, with her sister 
Mrs. Twing, and helped by another sister, Miss Margaret T. Emery, 
was the founder of the Auxiliary and for forty years its Secretary and 
leader. Sad for us as was her going, there still remains the realization 
of the privilege the Auxiliary has in the fact that it enshrines, as a 
most precious heritage, the life and work of that servant of Christ 
and His Church. As we stood at her grave that beautiful January day, 
singing, 


ce 


. there breaks a yet more glorious day; 
The saints triumphant rise in bright array; 
The King of Glory passes on His way, Alleluia. 
From earth’s wide bounds, from ocean’s farthest coast; 
Through gates of pearl streams in the countless host, 
Singing to Father, Son, and Holy Ghost, Alleluia! ” 


there came the assurance that there will be many in that “ countless 
host,” because she had led the Auxiliary to make its prayers and give 
its gifts in order that they might know the King of Glory. Hers was 


WORDS OF APPRECIATION 125 


a life of service and of triumph, and today, while we miss her griev- 
ously, we thank God for Miss Emery. 

The Chairman of the Executive Board has told you of the desire 
of Miss Emery’s family that the ““ Emery Fund ”’ shall be the only 
memorial to her, and, of course, their wishes will be respected; but 
we do suggest that there shall be established at headquarters a Rest 
Room for Missionaries, to be, as it were, the foretaste of that fund 
which in her name will mean happiness and refreshment to many a 
worker for the service thus rendered them. The Executive Board 
considered the question of a Memorial Service here in Portland, and 
decided that the most appropriate plan would be a Memorial Address 
by Bishop Lloyd at the great United Thank-Offering meeting to- 
morrow night, while, of course, our hearts will be full of love and 
gratitude for her as we kneel at the Altar tomorrow morning. 


Miss Lindley speaks of the Memorial Address by 
Bishop Lloyd. We are glad to give here a portion of it: 


It is my high privilege to put into words the thought that I know 
has been uppermost in the mind of everyone assembled here since the 
beginning of this meeting — thanksgiving to God for the wonderful 
example and inspiration and courage she brought to us, of His servant, 
Julia Chester Emery. That name will go down in the annals of the 
American Church as a rare exhibit, not of what a woman can do, but 
of what the servant of Jesus Christ, inspired by His Spirit and given 
of His courage, can lead her fellow-servants to undertake. 

When Miss Emery as a young girl went into the office of the 
General Secretary of the Woman’s Auxiliary to the Board of Missions, 
that was a small company of faithful people gathered together from 
hither and yon in God’s Church in America to devise means by which 
they might help forward the pioneers of the Gospel of Christ. When 
Miss Emery was relieved of the burden of her day’s work and pro- 
moted to the service in His very presence, that Auxiliary had grown 
to be the very most potent factor in the life of the American Church. 
Whatever there is of largeness of view, of courage in endeavour, of 
clear vision of the future, of purpose to go forward until the Christ 
reigns in our land, is largely due to the persistent and unwearying 
effort of the women who are bound together under the name of the 
Auxiliary to the Board of Missions. If the peace and quietness and 
fellowship and good-will with which the King’s business was for- 


126 JULIA CHESTER EMERY 


warded was perhaps the most notable thing in the Auxiliary’s life, 
I believe that it was largely due to that quiet and unassuming and 
shy personality who was at once your loved leader and the heart of 
your purpose. 

I have watched her as she smilingly went up against the troubles 
that almost made my heart faint, going on steadily and patiently 
and as sweetly as though the whole Church understood and was ready 
to support her. I have watched her in the hour when all that she 
hoped for had been accomplished — and she herself largely responsible 
for the accomplishment—and the same quiet gentleness and unobtru- 
sive shyness controlled her as though she had had nothing to do with it. 
I declare to you that the best gift God gave us in that remarkable 
woman was that astonishing quietness and serenity that came of the 
knowledge of her Lord. This one thing always impressed me con- 
cerning her — she never spoke as one who believed something; she 
never went forward as an advocate of a cause; every word and act 
was of one who knew her Lord and loved Him, and whose whole 
purpose was to commend Him to those she loved. I wonder if it 
would not enrich us all if we would emphasize that one word in her 
character and strive to emulate the astonishing way in which she 
demonstrated what St. Paul meant when he said, “I know in whom 
I have trusted.” 


That the influence of Miss Emery’s work and life 
reached far out beyond the confines of our own Church 
and missionary world is witnessed to in the following 
testimony given at a meeting on January 12th, the day 
that she was laid to rest, of the Twenty-Ninth Foreign 
Missionary Conference of North America (of Foreign 
Mission Boards in Canada and the United States): 


Her noteworthy service to her Church along missionary lines was 
recognized and honoured not long ago by the women who knew best 
about it. Her service was long and faithful, but very self-effacing. 
She was of the old type — the “ vanishing lady,” as some one has 
said — a woman who had the leisure to think things through and a 
willingness to take pains. For some years she has not been in active 
service, yet every memory of her stands out clearly. All admired her 
for her well-ordered thinking, for her accuracy, and for her devoted- 


WORDS OF APPRECIATION 127 


ness, contributing much to the great growth of the Woman’s Auxiliary 
of the Church. 

Several years ago Miss Emery was appointed by her Church as 
its representative to the great Jubilee Celebration of the South. She 
was very reserved and retiring, and kept herself occupied on the train, 
often in silent prayer. Rarely speaking in public, and not frequently 
even in committee meetings, she gave one evening, in a great church 
of Louisville, Kentucky, a remarkable missionary address. She had 
just returned from China, and surely mission work and missionaries 
never had a finer or more sympathetic interpreter than she was on 
that great occasion. 

Miss Emery’s place in the annals of quiet, unassuming, but 
efficient mission progress has been important. Missionaries, Auxiliary 
workers, and administrators will alike miss her helpful aid, but there 
is joy in Heaven as she enters upon her full reward. 


It is not uncommon, when one has passed away, that 
their good deeds are recalled in vivid memory, and words 
of praise flow freely in admiration of their high traits of 
character, but seldom does it fall to the lot of any one 
to receive while living full commendation of one’s work, 
or real appreciation of one’s incentive in the doing of it. 
Yet such was Miss Emery’s lot, though late, for when 
the “ Book”’ came containing this appreciation she was 
already beyond the interests of this world, and too feeble 
to realize the full import of the many letters which flowed 
in from all parts of this country and beyond in answer to 
Miss Lindley’s request. 

The “Book of Appreciation” has already been 
described: in these pages, but I will take the liberty now 
of quoting a few letters, selecting those which appear to 
show that the writers have touched Miss Emery’s life at 
many different points. 

Of her missionary friends, none had known her so 
long as Bishop Tuttle, whose friendship dated back to 
the days of his episcopate when sent by the Church as a 


b 


128 JULIA CHESTER EMERY 


young man into what was then literally the “ Wild 
West,” and continued through all the more than fifty 
years he sat in the House of Bishops, for some years at 
the end as Presiding Bishop of the Church. 

To him she was always “ Miss Julia,” and so he begins 
his letter: 


Dear Miss Fulia: 

Friends and admirers are to give you “A Book of Remembrance.” 

In sending it they are good enough to ask of me to pre-write a 
word. 

St. Paul, in his letter of good-bye, called to remembrance the 
unfeigned faith that was in his dearly loved Timothy; and he linked 
in the names of the kinswomen, Lois and Eunice. 

It may not be wrong for me, a fellow-worker with you for many 
years, to call to remembrance your devoted life and faithful work, and 
then to link in the names of your dear sisters, Mary and Susan and 
Theresa, who lovingly stood by and served in the wonderful earlier 
days of our missionary soldiering. 

God bless us every one, and have us ever in His holy keeping, 
through Jesus Christ, our Lord. Amen. 

DaNIEL S. TUTTLE, 
Presiding Bishop. 
St. Louis, Mo. 
Dees 192k. 


Next in years of friendship, perhaps, of the thirty-one 
bishops who were eager to express their appreciation, 
comes the succeeding Presiding Bishop, now also gone 
to his Rest. Bishop Garrett writes: 

Courtesy, sympathy, and generous consideration were the un- 
failing characteristics by which these ladies gave their most valuable 
time and co-operation to the founding of new missions and parishes 
in these 100,000 square miles of territory. 


ALEX. C. GARRETT, 
Bishop of Dallas. 


A bishop of later date gives this charming tribute to 
the three sisters: 


WORDS OF APPRECIATION 129 


My dear Miss Emery: 

I could more adequately write of the Three Graces than of the 
Three Emerys, for there is so much more I would say of them — the 
“Three Graces ” personified. Miss Mary, who had the “‘ faith’ to 
begin the splendid work, and organized the Woman’s Auxiliary; Miss 
Julia, who saw the more glorious day, and in “ hope” kept it going 
forward splendidly; Miss Margaret, whose gracious “ charity ”’ has 
gladdened the hearts of so many missionaries, clothed the little 
children, and bound up wounds. May God bless them and keep 
them! 


Not only in the Domestic field were her work and 
missionary interest appreciated, for from Japan we have 
Bishop McKim’s testimony, as also Bishop Tucker’s. 

Bishop McKim, of Tokyo, says: 


Miss Emery’s unfailing patience, good humour, and untiring 
energy; her cheerful optimism, tact, and courtesy; her exact knowl- 
edge of conditions, and eager desire to help, have always been a 
stimulus and support to those who have the honour of knowing her. 


Bishop Tucker, of Kyoto, addressing his letter to 
Miss Emery herself, writes: 


I shall always remember it was your suggestion at the time of 
your visit to Tokyo which really began the movement of providing 
St. Paul’s College with its new buildings. Again, with regard to 
St. Agnes’ School, it was you who made it possible to appeal to the 
Auxiliary for the buildings which have enabled the school to start on 
a new career of prosperity. We have always felt in Japan that we 
could count not only on your sympathy but on your understanding of 
the situation. 


To quote another, and this time the Rev. Dr. Pott, 
President of St. John’s University, Shanghai: 


I can now look back on thirty-five years of service in the foreign 
field, and I recall my first furlough to the United States after I had 
been in China for six years. I set about the task of raising money for 
a new building for St. John’s. I was utterly inexperienced in the art 
of begging, and was often downcast and discouraged. You gave me 


130 JULIA CHESTER EMERY 


your hearty sympathy and advice, and enabled me to get into touch 
with that splendid organization, the Woman’s Auxiliary. I have 
always felt that the success with which I met in obtaining funds was 
largely due to the interest you took in the matter and to the encourage- 
ment which you gave me. I know I encroached upon your time a 
good deal, but whenever I came into your office, I received a hearty 
welcome, and you were never too busy to help me in the realization of 
my plans. It was a great privilege to be a speaker at the same meet- 
ing where you made an address, for you always put the missionary 
cause on a higher level, and made us realize that it was not so much 
a matter of dollars and cents as it was the inspiration that comes from 
spiritual vision. 


From the Bishop of Cuba we have: 


To begin to describe what the Woman’s Auxiliary and Miss 
Emery have done for the Mission of the Church in Cuba would be to 
write the history of the work, and would require volumes. 


Bishop Burleson, a friend long before he became a 
bishop, touches her life in a more personal way: 


The Burlesons have always been thankful that they were living 
in the same world with the Emerys. There never was a time when we 
did not know them, and when they were not devising and doing nice 
things for us. | 

But especially this member of the family recalls the days when 
he came, as a new and green theological student, to the great city of 
New York, which contained scarcely a human being whom he had 
ever seen before. It was then that the Emery home was opened to 
him, and the friendship of long years began. 


Her fellow-workers at the Missions House also testify 
to her devotion and the strength of her influence. Dr. 


John W. Wood writes: 


Every one of these fifty years has been made beautiful by rich 
service. I am proud that it was my privilege to be associated with 
you for part of the time. 


And those more closely associated with her in the 
Auxiliary work: 


WORDS OF APPRECIATION 131 


In every section of the country I visit, I hear gracious words of 
affection and appreciation for you and the marvelous service you 
have rendered the Church. .. . 

I can ask for no greater happiness than to be able to pass on to 
others some of the help and inspiration I have gained through the 
example of your own beautiful life. 


And another: 


How much I owe to you, dear Miss Emery! You trusted me with 
a share in a great task,and ever since the day when you let me come 
to the Missions House to work with you, you have been to me the in- 
spiring leader, and the kind, sympathetic, and patient friend. 

I am grateful for your life, doubly grateful that I was privileged 
to touch it so closely, and I pray God that His richest blessing may be 
yours, now and always. 


One who was her helper and secretary for many years 
says: 
I learned from her a lesson of faithfulness to the work in hand and 


of untiring effort to do to the utmost of my ability what has been 
intrusted to me, which I hope I shall never forget. 


What an inspiration she was to the many women who 
have and are today guiding the work as diocesan officers, 
will be learned from the following: 


A Mississippi president: 


Those of us who, like myself, have been identified for nearly a 
generation with the Woman’s Auxiliary and its gracious and en- 
larging influences, think of Miss Emery as children recall their 
mother when summoning the sacred memories of home. Her patience 
in the days of difficulty, her endurance in the days of discouragement, 
endeared her to us all. 


A Southern Virginia U. T. O. treasurer: 


Through all these years Miss Julia C. Emery has been one of my 
greatest inspirations. Any life touched by hers is enriched. 


132 JULIA CHESTER EMERY 


A California president: 


I shall never forget your kindness to me at the General Conven- 
tion in Richmond, when J was a new and inexperienced diocesan 
president, and you made me feel at home in our large Auxiliary family. 
And so it is a privilege to send you my heartiest congratulations on 
your great part in the half-century of progress of the Woman’s Aux- 
iliary, and my deepest appreciation for all that your leadership has 
meant to the Auxiliary, and to me personally. . . . Bless you for ail 
you are to us all! 


A member of the Executive Board of the Woman’s 
Auxiliary: 


Today, as the National Executive Board faces the many problems 
of re-adjustment, I find, as a member of that body, that it is Miss 
Emery who has no fears for the future, but rather a vision and faith 
that dare to go forward with a true spirit of adventure for God. 


A personal friend may speak of her apart from her 
work: 


As Christmas draws near, I am reminded of your little annual 
visits to wish us joy. In sorrow or joy we could always depend on 
you. Among your manifold labours you never forgot your friends. 
As a big “ box”’ must be to a lonely missionary, so are your little 
calls to us. It is the same personal touch carried out through the 
past fifty years. 


But above all was she a friend to the missionary. One 
for twenty-seven years working among the Indians of 
South Dakota, and now retired, says: 


Words fail to duly express my gratitude for all that your dear 
letters of interest and cheer meant to the writer and her faithful 
helpers as the work advanced. 

When coming home on my vacations once in three or four years, 
thought for my welfare and rest concerned you. If in need of help 
physically, every effort was made to be assured that New York’s best 
skill professionally was given me. Also you extended to me little 


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MEMORIAL TABLET PLACED IN THE CHAPEL OF THE CHURCH Missions House 
BY MEMBERS OF THE First EXECUTIVE BOARD OF THE 
WomMaNn’s AUXILIARY 


WORDS OF APPRECIATION 133 


home courtesies, which have been treasured memories. Particularly 
that of having me meet your dear mother and sisters in your home. 
You were always so patient when I made mistakes, and most prompt 
in all of our emergencies. . . . 

That “ wonderful box” you had sent me at the close of my 
twenty-five years of service was one of your crowning expressions of 
interest in my labours, as it helped me to divide its weekly Sunday 
gift through the year with my faithful associates at St. Elizabeth’s, 
Standing Rock. | 


For the coloured people of the South, her interest 
was equally unfailing: 


St. Agnes’ Hospital could not have come into existence in 1896, 
or continued its work, without the generous support which has been 
given by the Woman’s Auxiliary. 

Miss Emery’s unfailing interest and encouragement helped the 
work during all these years, and it was through her suggestion to a 
donor that the first gift came to begin the work of St. Agnes’ Hospital. 


As she cared for the hospital itself, so she cared also 
for the missionary physician in charge: 


The Woman’s Auxiliary has meant homes thrown open to me 
_ anda seat at the fireside, or on a moonlit veranda, all over the country, 
with friends ready to take me in, and many a friendship that shall 
never cease. 

It has meant encouragement in my work, with love and a deep 
personal interest always. An interest and a love that in the dark 
days of sickness and pain shone with a radiance unsurpassed, a 
radiance reflected to me through the followers of the King in His 
Beauty, the leaders and members of the Woman’s Auxiliary. 


We cannot refrain from giving also the beautiful 
tribute to her work and that of the Auxiliary by Mr. 
Chapman, our oldest missionary in Alaska, which was 
written one week after Miss Emery had left us: 


Dear Miss Emery: 
Miss Lindley offers me a page 814 x 6 inches to tell of all that 
the Woman’s Auxiliary has meant to me during one-third of a cen- 


134 JULIA CHESTER EMERY 


tury. Think of that! The Auxiliary has been hands holding us up, 
sympathy almost inconceivably patient, hearts taking up our burdens 
and laying them down before the feet of God. 

It is the Auxiliary that has clothed our children, given us a church 
and two excellent buildings, besides helping with others many 
furnishings, many conveniences, always a welcome and a hearing, 
the personal labours of workers in the field and devoted labours of 
women at home. 

If I should have my wish for any new venture of faith, such, for 
instance, as the Liberian enterprise, it would be that it might meet 
with the same spirit in the Auxiliary that has so firmly sustained us. 

In the name of all here I send our affectionate greeting and 
congratulations. 

Sincerely yours, 


Joun W. CHAPMAN. 


These are but a few of the many jewels in her crown, 
but they suffice as showing in what loving remembrance 
she was, and is, held in the hearts of all who knew her. 

But far more eloquent than tongue or pen was the 
squeeze of the hand given me by the wife of that mis- 
sionary in the far-distant corner of our land when, as we 
travelled together in the subway to attend a “Quiet 
Day,” she was told by a friend that I was attempting to 
write this story of Miss Emery’s life. 


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